Why the Phoenix Suns blew out the Dallas Mavericks

Igor Kokoskov’s Offense

Another aspect of Igor’s offense is the amount of passing and ball movement that will keep the defense both on their toes, and switching until the Phoenix ball-handler has the matchup that he wants.

Often that will be Devin Booker, but there were several times were Trevor Ariza was left wide open and took most of his 3-point attempts without any defense breathing down his neck.

This is a tremendous  improvement over the past three seasons – and tonight all without a bonafied starting point guard (except for Devin Booker, more on that in a moment).

Phoenix Suns

Obviously if you were able to watch the game, evidence of the passing and movement (and of the hot shooting – they shot 53.2% from inside the arc, 2.1% worse than they shot from beyond the arc), which will lead to a number of assists.

But the key is that the shots were mostly quick shots, in rhythm, where the shooter is most likely to take a shot that both feels good, and that he doesn’t have enough time to think about anything else going on around them.

The box score though is where the real story was told: Devin “not a point guard” Booker led the Suns in assists with 7.

Oh, and so did Isaiah Canaan.

And Trevor Ariza.

And Deandre Ayton finished with 6.

From those four players alone, Phoenix garnered 27 of their 35 assists, the key players in the offense.

If the offense remains focused, and the shots remain open, they will fall, and point will be scored, and assists recorded.

In 2017-18, Phoenix’s only game with 35 or more assists came in the final game of the year, against the Dallas Mavericks, when they recorded exactly 35.

Time to Rise.