Suns 112, Lakers 106: Connecting the dots
It may take some time for the players on this new, deeper Suns roster to get comfortable with one another. So long as they’re winning, coach Jeff Hornacek will treasure whatever time he has to connect the dots and determine what works and what doesn’t.
Phoenix’s offense hasn’t seen the spacing it did last year, and a clogged paint on offense combined with the heavy point guard rotation caused offensive issues for the fourth game in a row. Yet, the Suns again took care of the ball, played alertly unlike they had in a game prior against Utah, and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-106 in Staples Center on Tuesday.
The Suns (3-1) survived 39 points by Kobe Bryant, got 26 from Gerald Green and a quiet 23 from Markieff Morris to pull away from a more stingy Lakers team. Less than a week after opening the season with a blowout over Los Angeles, the Suns got a battle but turned it on late.
Hornacek’s squad held the Lakers to 39.8 percent shooting and got in some solid tinkering against a team led by the aging Bryant, who took 37 shots and played 44 minutes.
With Miles Plumlee breaking out of a funk, the Suns went with two centers for most of the game before turning to a small ball lineup of Markieff Morris, P.J. Tucker and the three point guards to hold off Los Angeles. Thomas added nine assists, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic worked through a funk but played well when it counted and Morris combined with Marcus for 35 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.
Hi, P.J.: Tucker returned from his DUI suspension to play 20 minutes, and his first points of the game were huge. A corner three-point shot with 20 seconds left put the 108-104 Suns lead to 111-104 and out of reach for the Lakers.
Dragon gets rolling: Dragic hasn’t been bad to this point in the season, but he hasn’t found a rhythm like he did last year. Maybe a bit of it has to do with Isaiah Thomas and Eric Bledsoe mostly taking over the point guard duties, but in general, it likely came because he didn’t have the ball in his hands very often. He finally got to initiate the offense early in the first quarter, before and after Bledsoe got into foul trouble. Dragic finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
The issue with the three guards: Put away criticism or compliments for the three point guard lineup. The biggest issue to this point has been the three guards all playing well with the minutes split between them. In the win column, it hasn’t mattered, but for the sake of individual consistency, it has. While Dragic got more turns handling the ball in the halfcourt on Tuesday, Bledsoe disappeared playing off the ball, and with Dragic and Thomas doing so much off the dribble themselves.
Maybe it’s just an issue like the Cleveland Cavaliers are dealing with (LeBron looked quite disinterested and submissive in a loss to the Trail Blazers on Tuesday). In the meantime, two guards clicking and Green getting his touches — called by Hornacek or not — has been enough. The three guard lineup finished the game with the Morrii and Bledsoe finally found success in getting to the hoop with floor spacing as the Suns hadn’t gone centerless to that point.
The bench shines: While Dragic got more touches to help him find a groove, he and Bledsoe gave way to more effective bench play between Thomas and Green, who scored 28 points on 12-for-20 shooting in the first half as Bledsoe didn’t even return to risk a third foul in the first half. In the fourth quarter, Green curled off a screen for this poster of a dunk on Jordan Hill.
Plumlee does the little things: Again, Miles Plumlee found himself in early foul trouble, but on Tuesday he looked more fluid and more active on the defensive end. Rather than worrying about his offensive touches, Plumlee exerted his energy by crashing the offensive glass and playing defense to finish with seven rebounds (all in the first half) two blocks and two steals.
The pace is good, not the efficiency: Phoenix led 58-46 at halftime thanks to a pace that was in their favor. The problem, then, was that the Suns weren’t shooting quite as hot as they did in the season opener. A much more competent Lakers team at least gave a fight this time around, and Hornacek’s crew shot 43 percent and went 2-for-9 from three-point range in the first half, a far cry from their outside shooting in their opener and a continuation of a growing concern over their floor spacing. Still, Phoenix made up for the lack of outside shooting with foul shots and outrebounding the Lakers 31-21 in the first half before it evened out by the end.
Video of the game:
Kobe Bryant went flying over the crowd
in Rush Hour.