PHOENIX — Before the Phoenix Suns began dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, their entertainment staff gaffed. Confetti from pregame introductions slowly fell from the U.S. Airways Center rafters, delaying the tip as players swatted at the pieces as they floated through the air. After the 119-99 rout finally ended, coach Jeff Hornacek likewise swatted at some mosquitos as he answered questions.
As for the in between, opening night couldn’t have gone much better.
The Suns won’t say anything bad about the Lakers, who got an edgy 31-point effort from Kobe Bryant. Still, it’s clear that in reading between the lines, Hornacek’s crew won’t get bigs heads from a win that said more about their opponent than them.
“Scouting report on our guards is keep them out the lane,” said Suns forward Marcus Morris, who did his best to keep Bryant in check while scoring 21 efficient (and easy) points himself. “Once they get in the lane, you can slide to the open slot so they can see me — (I) do my job and knock them down.
“I had fun starting, I’m happy we won,” he added. “I hope every team leaves me open like that. I just did my job, knocked down my open shots.”
Open Morris’ shots were, and so were most of Phoenix’s attempts throughout the night.
While the national media has lambasted Los Angeles for taking so few threes in this age of analytics, it was apparent that the most problematic issue might actually be in how many they’re allowing. According to SportVU tracking data, the Lakers contested only 43 of Phoenix’s 82 shot attempts to the Suns contesting 60 of the Lakers’ 86 (whatever contested is defined by: Phoenix hit 51 percent of those labeled “contested” while Los Angeles shot 37 percent on its contested shots).
In straighter terms, the Suns hit 55 percent overall and half of their 32 threes. The Lakers shot 43 percent and went just 4-for-13 from deep.
Bryant said afterward that his team has to figure out “guarding the three-point shot, or shooting more and making more ourselves. That’s tough math to overcome when they knock down 16 threes to our four.”
Hornacek, meanwhile, loved the edge he saw in his two starting point guards, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, who combined for 34 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds in 52 total minutes. In general, the starting unit of the two guards and the Morris twins thrived with both centers, Miles Plumlee and Alex Len.
Marcus was the starter replacing leader P.J. Tucker, who is suspended for the first three games of the year because of his extreme DUI conviction this summer. Behind Isaiah Thomas‘ 9-for-11 shooting and 23 points, Morris hit 8-of-14 shots, likewise five threes, all while hounding an older, slower Kobe.
Bryant needed 25 shots to get to his 31 points, and all but four of those attempts were contested, per SportVU.
“He stayed down on pumpfakes,” Hornacek said. “That was a big key. Kobe, he’s going to get some free throws, he’s going to make some shots. As long as you make him make tough shots all game, that’s the best you can do. Marcus is a little bit taller, he was able to stay somewhat in front of him. Kobe got some good looks off but Marcus was able to challenge it. And then offensively, he shot the ball really well.”
Morris’ performance might have thrown another twist into the young season.
Tucker will return hoping to take over his starting role, but it’s possible the Suns are fine with their leader coming off the bench to bring an extra spark. After all, the only nitpicky item in the blowout on Wednesday was the Suns’ second quarter, when a unit of Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Gerald Green, Anthony Tolliver and Plumlee lost an 18-point lead.
So, what are the chances the Suns continue to roll with the Morris twins in the starting lineup?
“It’s always possible,” Hornacek said. “We go 3-0, why would we change our lineup? We still have two games to go (without Tucker). We really like the effort of that first group tonight.
“Eric and Goran really took turns of kind of dominating the play there, Marcus making jump shots. It’s fun to watch,” the Suns coach added, before bringing up the obvious. “I thought we got a lot of good shots off tonight.”
Quotable
Jeff Hornacek, on Eric Bledsoe’s third quarter ejection after taking a shot to the face from Bryant while diving for a loose ball: “Eric and Goran, these guys deserve some respect for some calls. These guys are getting slapped in the face, they’re not calling it. I don’t mind a guy getting upset like that. Eric’s been in every game we’ve had this year in terms of intensity. Sometimes it’s going to happen. We’ll have to get his attention if the game is a little closer and we can’t afford to have him out.”