Phoenix Suns Summer League Game 2 Recap

The Phoenix Suns fell to 1-1 in 2015 NBA Summer League action after a 108-89 loss to the Houston Rockets Sunday afternoon. After falling behind 13-0 in the game’s first two minutes, the Suns cut the lead down to one or two possessions multiple times but were unable to ever take the lead and make things interesting.

Against the Rockets’ rebound-heavy frontcourt of Montrezl Harrell and Alan Williams, it would have been nice to see how Alex Len would’ve done, but the Suns’ big man sat out since Phoenix won’t be playing him on back-to-backs in Summer League games.

D.J. Kennedy led Houston with 21 points and seven rebounds, Glen Rice Jr. followed up with 20 points, Will Cummings had a well-rounded stat line of 18-7-3-2 and Alan Williams added 16 points and eight rebounds. Montrezl Harrell finished with a loud 11 points and eight rebounds while Christian Wood chipped in 11 as well.

Outscored 29-17 in the fourth quarter, the Suns fell out of the game pretty early into the fourth quarter. Still, even though Phoenix failed to match Houston’s intensity for most of the game, there were some positives to take away from the game. Here’s a look at the notable Suns performers and their best highlights from Phoenix’s second Summer League game:

Archie Goodwin — T.J. Warren was the Suns’ player of the game once again, but Archie Goodwin undoubtedly made it a tough call with another strong third quarter. Goodwin finished with 20 points and six rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting, his jump shot looked great and he frequently got to the line once again, making six of his nine free throws.

Goodwin still needs a lot of work defensively, letting his man blow by him and get to the basket time and time again. But his new and improved jump shot looks so much better now, and he was shooting it with confidence. Scoring 10 of his points in the third quarter, Goodwin also knocked down two three-pointers, was ripping rebounds away from opponents and did it all with an intense game-face on.

It’s hard to avoid reading too much into Summer League action, but Goodwin could be ready for a breakout season if he can just hold his own defensively.

T.J. Warren — Goodwin’s loud third quarter stole the spotlight, but Warren was actually Phoenix’s top performer once again, making it look easy on the offensive end. In fact, Warren was also the quiet star of the third period too, scoring 11 of his 22 points in the quarter. He shot 9-of-15 for the game and also pulled down four rebounds.

With Alex Len out, the Suns were undersized and overmatched on the glass, which is why it was so impressive that Warren relatively held his own in small-ball lineups that saw him covering the high motor of Montrezl Harrell at the 4.

The Suns didn’t get the win, but Warren’s ability to finish no matter the circumstances has to have the organization feeling good about his potential for a breakout season in 2015-16.

Mike James — In the Suns’ first Summer League game, it was Mickey McConnell who impressed at the point guard position out of nowhere. With Jerel McNeal struggling once again, Mike James stepped up in Game No. 2, finishing with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds off the bench.

James might be undersized, but he did an excellent job surveying the floor and finding open players. In one example, he froze the defense with a midair pass to Archie Goodwin in the corner when he saw the defenders overplaying the most obvious pass option to his right as Goodwin knocked down the wide open three.

Devin Booker — Booker once again struggled with his shot in his second Summer League game, finishing with four points on 2-of-12 shooting (0-of-4 from three-point range). Most of his shots seemed to be twos from just inside the three-point line and almost all of them were short.

However, there’s no reason to worry about him just yet. It’ll take some time to get acclimated to NBA three-point range and once he bulks up, he’ll have an easier time developing into a serviceable wing defender. Booker also did an impressive job attacking the glass for rebounds (five boards), something the Suns can work with in the future from the shooting guard position.

Justin Harper — In his first four minutes, Justin Harper had nine points on 4-of-4 shooting, knocking down a couple of threes and making Suns fans wonder where this guy had been in Game No. 1 (he had been playing for the Orlando Magic’s Summer League team, to be clear).

But his subsequent 13 minutes, Harper was basically a non-factor, failing to score the rest of the way on 0-of-2 shooting. He finished with nine points and four rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time.

Next: Film Session: Breaking Down Archie Goodwin's First SL Game

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