It was a tough loss for the Phoenix Suns but considering they were short-handed, didn’t have a hot shooting hand, and were playing away against one of the best teams in the West, several encouraging signs emerged.
No one likes moral victories. Actual victories are much sweeter. However, in a game where the Phoenix Suns were 12 point underdogs playing without one of their stars in a hostile environment against one of the best teams in the West, there were a lot of encouraging signs in a one-point overtime loss.
If you would have told Suns fans before the game their team would have possession down one point in the closing seconds of overtime and Devin Booker had the ball in his hands, everyone would have taken it.
If it wasn’t for a great defensive rotation by Torrey Craig to get the block, his driving floater may have dropped. It didn’t, of course, making the Suns’ first loss of the season a bitter one to swallow.
Coaches all the way down to the pee-wee youth level have forever tried to find positives in a loss. They will say things like, “this loss taught us something about our team.”
I have always thought that line of thinking was silly, considering a team should be able to learn the same lessons whether their final shot went in or not, but there were five key aspects of Friday night’s loss that should give Suns fans hope this level of play could persist throughout the year.
No Ayton, no problem
The major story going into the night was how the Phoenix Suns would play without their suspended starting center, Deandre Ayton. The Suns showed it wasn’t much of a problem.
Okay, maybe it was a problem considering they may have won with him in the lineup, but sans their prize big man, the Suns actually out-rebounded the Denver Nuggets 54 to 45.
The Suns could have really used Ayton on the defensive end, where the most talented YMCA baller on the planet, Nikola Jokic, put up a triple-double.
Ayton may not have been able to stop the stat-line filler from doing just that (although he likely would have racked up a few much-needed blocks), but he would have at least given the Suns six more fouls to give up.
Three Suns starters fouled out of Friday night’s contest, and many of those fouls came when either directly guarding or helping on Jokic.
The fact that Aron Baynes stepped up like he did (15 points, 7 rebounds), not to mention Frank Kaminsky (19 points, 11 rebounds) providing great minutes off the bench, should Suns fans hope that during Ayton’s suspension, the paint won’t be left completely void.