Suns start long home stand with rematch of Nets

Phoenix Suns (4-6) v Brooklyn Nets (3-6)

Monday 11/6/2017 7:00pm
AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
Arizona Sports 98.7FM/Fox Sports Arizona Plus

2017-18 – Suns lead 1-0
All-Time Series – Suns lead 45-40
Last Matchup – Suns won 122-114
Suns’ Last Game – Loss to the Spurs 112-95
Nets’ Last Game – Loss to the Lakers 124-112
2017-18 Suns’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 106.1 (14th of 30) Opp PTS/G: 116.5 (29th of 30)
2017-18 Nets’ Scoring Averages – PTS/G: 114.3 (2nd of 30) Opp PTS/G: 119.3 (30th of 30)

And so we meet again.

For the second time in less than a week the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets meet, a matchup of the two worst defensive teams in the league, when speaking specifically in regards to opponent’s points allowed.

The Suns and Nets last met on Halloween night in Brooklyn, with the Suns blowing an 18-point lead midway through the third quarter, and the Nets blowing an 8-point lead midway through the fourth.

Phoenix Suns

Phoenix led 83-65 with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter and was seemingly finally about to be on the positive end of a runaway game. Yet, a combination of Suns complacency and Brooklyn fire turned the game around faster than a child could say ‘trick or treat’ as the Nets went on a ridiculous 41-15 run over the next 11 minutes taking a 106-98 lead with only 6:30 left in the game.

But the Young Suns were not about to go quietly into that dark Brooklyn night and had a run of their own outscoring the Nets 24-8 led by T.J. Warren’s 11 points over the final 6:30 himself. The Suns were fortunate to survive the Halloween night scare, get the W, and walk awaty their first road win of the season.

Since then the Suns are 1-2, winning their next game at Washington, although losing their next two in New York then San Antonio. The Nets on the other hand have played only once, on November 3, a loss at the Lakers, and are otherwise well rested as they play their second game of a five-game Western Conference road trip, just as Phoenix comes home for their first of six home games following their own five-game Eastern Conference road trip.

While this game will be the second game of a back-to-back for the Suns, it will be at home, the first of nine out of their next ten in the Purple Palace.

So far this season Phoenix is 2-2 at home, although they are 2-0 under interim head coach Jay Triano.

Even though they have all of the matchups in Phoenix, this stretch will be a difficult test of the young team’s mettle as they will have the luxury of a lot of home cooking, but if they perform well, could lead to a good record as they head into Thanksgiving. Fortunately for them too, the schedulers were very kind on this trip and they do not have a single back-to-back along the way, aside from this game against Brooklyn. Their next back-to-back series will not occur until December 4 and 5, on the road.

Three Interesting Stats

Phoenix Suns

1. Against the San Antonio Spurs, Devin Booker only scored 9 points, his season-low. He scored in single digits three times last season. In his next game following each poor outing, he only scored 15, 19, and 15. However, he did score 32 points at Brooklyn on Halloween. Hopefully he can come up guns a blazing and light up the Nets in Phoenix.

2. Marquese Chriss scored only 3 points against the Spurs and is now averaging only 6.6 points per game this season and only 7.4 points as a starter in seven starts. While he has said that he was not comfortable coming off of the bench, that should be an issue that he needs to work through. Jay Triano should consider starting Dragan Bender over Chriss and see about getting Bender’s offense going to tie into his very good defense.

3. Phoenix is averaging exactly 20 assists per game since the firing of Earl Watson. When adding up all 10 games the Suns average 18.6 per game which places them in dead last in the league. 20 per game would move them up to 26th overall, just below the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers’ 20.2

Next: Bender vs Chriss: Who should start for the Suns?

Brooklyn Nets

1. In nine games this season the Nets are averaging 11.2 3-pointers made per game, sixth most per game in the league. Against the Suns on Halloween, they tied their season-low of nine, while shooting their second worst percentage, 29.0%.

2. The Nets are the league’s second leading scorer per game with 114.3, although that number would be much higher had it not have been for one outlier. Brooklyn has scored at least 111 points in every one of their nine games, save for one: an 86 point clunker at the Knicks where they shot a season low 75 field goal attempts, tied for the sixth fewest attempts by any team in a game in 2017-18. If that 86 point game is erased, the Nets would average117.9 points per game, 3.6 points higher than they average now, although still 2.8 points below the league-leading Golden State Warriors’ 120.7.

3. Brooklyn is 0-4 on the road thus far. Their splits from Brooklyn to the road are stark, although it is their defense that suffers more than their offense. At home the Nets average a final score of 115.8-115.6. However, on the road they average 112.5-124.0. Hopefully the Suns – who scored 122 points on them in Brooklyn – can continue that trend, and find a way to just simply outscore the Nets.