Second half sinks Suns in San Antonio

If the game could have been called at halftime, that would have been a helluva win for Phoenix in San Antonio.

Instead the officials allowed the second half to be played, and rather than the Suns making serious second half adjustments to overcome their Conference foe, it was the Spurs who made the moves necessary to pull out an impressive victory over Phoenix.

Phoenix played the first 24 minutes of Sunday’s game looking like a team who had been well rested and ready to take on the aging – and depleted – Spurs. San Antonio played without Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, and Joffrey Lauvergne, and while they opened with an 8-point lead over Phoenix after 12 minutes of action, the Suns charged back outscoring San Antonio by 12 points in the second quarter led by Troy Daniels’ 8 points and T.J. Warren’s 7, as Phoenix took a solid 55-51 point lead into half.

There is no doubt that the Suns believed at that moment that they could pull out the win, especially against the depleted Spurs roster, and do something that no Suns team had done in many years:

Unfortunately, this is a Gregg Popvich-led Spurs team, and it seems like all they need is him as head coach and no matter who is on the roster, they can win. Even though the Suns played well in the first half and San Antonio was without three key players – including a superstar – the Spurs found a way to lock down the Suns offense and route Phoenix in the third quarter, outscoring them 34-13. The Suns shot an incredibly poor 4-21 from the field including 1-8 from beyond the arc, while San Antonio made 13-19 and 5-6, respectively.

Putting the young Suns down by as many as 16 in the third essentially did them in, although the Spurs were not finished snuffing out all Suns hopes of a comeback. Never taking the pedal off the metal, with 4:45 remaining, San Antonio led Phoenix by a game-high 27 points, 109-82. Amazingly the Spurs went on a 58-27 run over the second half’s first 16:45, putting the game away, and all hopes of a Suns 3-2 road trip to bed.

This was the third consecutive game that the Suns found themselves down by at least 20 points at some point in the game. They were able to come back against the Wizards, but were not able to find that same magic against either the Knicks or Spurs.

Devin Booker, who seems to have been suffering from some occasional fatigue issues in this early season, was nowhere to be found on the night and finished with a season-low 9 points on 3-11 shooting in 26:13. He made only 1-5 from three, although he nailed his two free throws. He also finished with a team worst -27 in the +/- category.

What is incredible is that he did this without Kawhi Leonard guarding him.

Phoenix Suns

T.J. Warren rebounded well after suffering a head injury when he ran into Enes Kanter in New York, and finished with 17 points and 5 boards. His shooting was a not-so-efficient 7-18, although with Devin Booker unable to get any offense going whatsoever, he was Phoenix’s primary scoring threat and needed to take shots when necessary.

As much love as Suns fans have had early for Mike James, he once again shot very poorly from the field, and received some deserving criticism from the Suns’  television hosts. In only 20:15, James shot a putrid 5-12 from the field, while recording only 3 assists. What is so upsetting about that though is that he keeps shooting, even when players like Troy Daniels deserved twice as many shots tonight based on how hot he was.

In only 15:48 playing time, Daniels shot a fantastic 4-5 from beyond the arc. In very Quentin Richardson form, he shot only 0-1 from within the arc. But his hot hand should have been sought out probably twice as often as it was while on the court, and it is up to point guards James and Tyler Ulis to make that happen.

That being said, Ulis did record 7 assists in 27:45, but shot only 1-6 from the field himself.

Although he too shot poorly tonight, it might be time to go back to Tyler Ulis as the starting point guard to get more of an offensive flow in the offense and record more assists, hopefully further preventing any more games from Devin Booker like tonight’s.

Tyson Chandler led all players with 14 rebounds tying his season-high, and recorded his sixth game of 10 or more rebounds this season.

Without Leonard, San Antonio was anchored tonight by LaMarcus Aldridge who led all scorers with 21 points on 9-13 shooting, but it was an overall very balanced scoring attack as seven players finished in double figure scoring.

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Patty Mills scored 17 himself while Danny Green drained 6-10 for 14 points. Four bench players reached double-figures as well led by Dejounte Murray’s 13, Rudy Gay and Bryn Forbes’ 12, and Brandon Paul’s 11. San Antonio shot 44-88 on the night from the field and 11-22 from beyond the arc. While the Suns had 18 turnovers, the Spurs finished with only 9.

The Suns’ five game road trip is finally over, but no rest for the weary. The Brooklyn Nets are already awaiting them as the two clash for the second time in a week on Monday evening in Phoenix.