Records Fall as Suns Rip Raptors with Late Rush

As has been an issue for the past few years, it is unfortunate that the Suns aren’t in the Eastern Conference. If they could feast on the second-class Conference all year instead of the Western powers – they’d be a playoff team, no doubt.

The Phoenix Suns social media department have been trying valiantly to launch either or both Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker into the NBA All-Star game in February. The two guards have had fabulous seasons thus far and are definitely in the conversation for players snubbed if neither of them are at least given a spot on the bench.

On Sunday afternoon, Eric Bledsoe made another compelling argument as he had the best game of his career in a matchup against one of the Eastern Conferences top-two teams.

Taking on the class of the East two out of three games on a short Eastern Conference road trip, the Suns wrapped the short swing up with a game against second place Toronto Raptors. On paper the two teams should be on totally different levels of the league – the Raptors vying for homecourt throughout the playoffs, and the Suns vying for the number one overall pick in the draft.

And yet that is not at all how the game was played at all as Phoenix and Toronto battled for the first three quarters, the Suns never falling behind by more than 9 points and eventually Phoenix frustrating the Raptors to the point of unfortunate physical aggression.

In the 4th quarter Bledsoe dominated the Phoenix offense and Toronto defense scoring or assisting on 20 of the team’s 33 points, including scoring 8 of the last 12 of the game. Toronto was quickly overwhelmed by Phoenix’s end-to-end intensity and as they saw the game slipping away, began to make mistakes that would cost them the chance to overcome the Suns’ push.

Unable to stop the sudden Suns scoring blitz, the frustration of Raptors’ poor fourth quarter caused some emotions to boil over culminated by a dirty play from certain All-Star selection, Kyle Lowry. With 1:30 left and the Suns now up 9, Brandon Knight drove by Lowry through the lane to the basket. Lowry swiped at Knight late and hit the Suns guard in the back of his head causing him to crash to the ground with an apparent head injury. After a brief review, Lowry was awarded a Flagrant 2 and immediately ejected. Knight recovered, hit the two free throws and iced the game.

Phoenix is now 10-6 against Eastern Conference opponents, and 5-23 against the West. The victory of the Raptors completed the regular season sweep, the first time they have swept Toronto since the 2013-14 season.

The Phoenix 4th quarter was something quite exciting to behold:

• Down 3 at the start, the Suns out scored Toronto by 15, and only a three-pointer with 18.2 seconds left kept it from being even worse.
• Their +15 point spread in the quarter was the largest 4th quarter spread this season, and the most since outscoring the Golden State Warriors 38-23 in a 128-103 loss on December 16, 2015.
• Phoenix shot 55.6% from the field to Toronto’s 26.3%.
• The Suns sunk 12-13 from the free throw line. They finished 26-28 on the night for 92.3%. The Suns are shooting 87.2% from the line over their last three games.
• Bledsoe finished with 15 points including 9-9 foul shots, but also recorded a +23 in the 4th quarter alone. Tyson Chandler had a +20 in the quarter as well.

As mentioned, Eric Bledsoe had the best night of career finishing with a career-high 40 points and season-high 13 assists. He drained all 14 of his free throw attempts, hit 4-7 from three, and shot 64.7% from the floor.

Devin Booker stretched his 20+ scoring streak to nine games finishing with 20 on the nose including 5 three’s. Bledsoe and Booker’s 9 three-point shots combined were the only three’s made for the Suns in the game.

Tyson Chandler’s recent scoring tirade continued as he scored 16 points, although his streak of recording 15+ boards ended with only 9 grabbed last night.

Alex Len and P.J. Tucker each collected 10 caroms with Tucker recording his first double-double of the season, and 26th of his Phoenix Suns career.

For the north-siders, DeMar DeRozen scored 22 points, dished out 4 assists, and grabbed 3 boards. Kyle Lowry scored 15 points, recorded 6 assists and 4 rebounds, and adding to his personal frustration, shot only 1-9 from beyond the arc.