Phoenix Suns Summer League Championship Recap
As if the sting of losing LaMarcus Aldridge to a Western Conference rival didn’t burn enough, falling short in the championship game of the 2015 NBA Summer League added a slight insult to injury for the Phoenix Suns. In Las Vegas Monday night, the Summer Suns found themselves facing a familiar opponent, but lost to Summer League MVP Kyle Anderson and the San Antonio Spurs, 93-90.
Unlike most of their games in Vegas, the Summer Suns actually got off to a fast start for once and built a 23-17 lead heading into the second quarter. But Phoenix squandered its lead, going for three and a half minutes without scoring to allow San Antonio to climb back into the game and tie it up at 39 heading into the break.
The Suns’ starters didn’t get much help in the first half, with San Antonio’s bench outscoring Phoenix’s reserves, 28-3. But it was the starters that let Phoenix down in the third quarter, committing some careless, costly turnovers that ignited San Antonio’s fast break offense and led to a quick 8-0 run to put the Suns in a nine-point hole midway through the period.
Mike James doing some fancy footwork and beautiful shooting. #SummerSuns pic.twitter.com/vagFJ7WPG9
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) July 21, 2015
The Spurs quickly widened the gap to begin the fourth quarter, opening up an 13-point advantage on a 7-0 run before T.J. Warren opened up the fourth quarter scoring…four minutes into the period. The Suns made a few late pushes, but poor shooting — until garbage time boosted the final number — (45.8 percent for the game) and far too many turnovers (18) doomed Phoenix to runner-up in the Summer League tournament.
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In addition to the turnovers and early shooting woes, Phoenix’s bench was outscored 60-10 for the game as the Suns got zero help outside of their starting five. Here are the Suns’ top performers and highlights from the 2015 NBA Summer League championship game.
T.J. Warren — After being limited to two points in Phoenix’s last Summer League contest, Warren’s hamstring didn’t look like a problem in the championship game. He quietly put up eight points in the first half on 3-of-6 shooting, but didn’t quite impose his will on the game as he did so many times throughout Summer League.
Warren finished the game with 17 points on 50 percent shooting to go with six rebounds and six fouls.
Alex Len — After missing the Suns’ semifinals game against the New Orleans Pelicans (scheduled rest), Len returned to the starting lineup for the championship game. He wasn’t much of a factor, with the Spurs’ defense doing a nice job of trapping him every time he caught the ball, but he had nine rebounds in the first half to anchor Phoenix’s interior defense.
Len owned the glass with 13 rebounds, but only managed to score nine points on 3-of-8 shooting. He also had two blocks.
Archie Goodwin — Goodwin came out in attack mode, driving to the basket early and often in what looked like would be his best game of the entire Summer League. But after posting an early eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, Goodwin went dead silent after that, finishing with just 12 points — albeit on 50 percent shooting.
Devin Booker — Booker’s confidence and impressive range on three-point attempts continued to be the story for the Suns rookie, as a pair of deep three balls had Phoenix looking unstoppable early on. But like Goodwin, Booker disappeared after a hot start, finishing the game with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting and six personal fouls.
Excluding the first two games, Devin Booker is 12-of-21 (57.1%) from beyond the arc in Vegas. Killer on catch-and-shoot.
— Michael Gallagher (@MikeSGallagher) July 21, 2015
Mike James — One day after scoring eight of Phoenix’s 10 points in one late fourth quarter stretch, it didn’t take long for Mike James to rack up his first highlight reel play with an opportunistic steal and Mighty Mouse-esque dunk. James led the Suns with nine first half points.
In the second half, when the Suns fell into their largest deficit of the game, it was James who ignited the offense and pulled Phoenix back within striking distance. After he was blocked/fouled on a dunk attempt on the break, James scored eight straight points to cut San Antonio’s advantage down to two.
James’ heat check lasted the rest of the game as he led the Suns with a game-high 32 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He made three of his six three-pointers, went 9-for-11 from the foul line and added in eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. This undersized stick of dynamite deserves a training camp invite from somebody.
This steal and slam comes courtesy of @TheNatural_05 #SummerSuns pic.twitter.com/nFTFRMSAHi
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) July 21, 2015
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