The Phoenix Suns demolished the Houston Rockets 127-91. After a dud of a trade deadline that killed many fan’s spirits, how can the team still bring fans some hope?
The Phoenix Suns defeated the Houston Rockets for the first time in a long time.
The victory snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Rockets, the longest streak by either team in the 52 years they have faced off against one another.
The victory also tied the all-time series at 108-108; Houston’s last victory (139-125 on December 21, 2019), marking the first time they had led the all-time series since March 21, 1971 when they led 11-10.
In the win, Kelly Oubre played out of his mind. However, while he will never shoot 14-19 again from the field, or 7-9 from beyond the arc – he doesn’t have to.
If Oubre can just be consistent offensively, making sure that off defensive rebounds he finds either Ricky Rubio or Devin Booker to bring the ball up out of backcourt and only take shots that are within the flow of the offense and not in a “I’ve got to get my points” kind of way – he’ll get his points – and he will make defenses a heckofa lot more honest.
It is hard to fault Devin Booker for anything this season – and I sure as heck will not do it here.
Yet while his shooting of 10-18 from the field is just two missed shots off of his season average, his 4-8 from beyond the arc is exceptionally high.
While we expect nothing less of Book overall, absolutely no one would fault him if he regressed a little bit before the end of the season following his All-Star snub, the fact that his franchise didn’t acquire anybody to help him, and the fact that two of his best friends were paired up in Minnesota.
“Regression” doesn’t necessarily have to mean that he suddenly begins to average 15 points per game (over 10 points below his season average) and visibly did not seem to care, but too if he began to average 40 points per game, while his team was losing by 20 night in and night out.
If Booker instead continued to play the game that he has been playing all season, putting up franchise-record numbers while keeping the team competitive in most games, then that will be a tremendous benefit to the franchise.
Unofortunately, Deandre Ayton was not able to take advantage of the Houston Rockets’ ridiculously small ball at all (something that Charles Barkley had said he would do), finishing with just 12 points and 6 rebounds in only 23 minutes.
Every game that goes by in which Luka Doncic plays like an MVP, even good stats by Ayton seem second rate and less than desired.
He can not create for himself and for as good as his stats are (18.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks after the Houston victory), they aren’t yet dominant, therefore he cannot have many of these 12 and 6 games.
In fact, he shouldn’t have any.
Granted, Ricky Rubio hasn’t had the greatest season for the Suns, he is a significant upgrade over every other point guard Ayton has ever played with.
Sure, maybe the offense could flow through Ayton some more, but he, himself, needs to be real, and understand that if he just isn’t getting the shots that he wants, he needs to create scoring opportunities for himself when he ends up with the ball outside of the post by being as physical as possible and drawing fouls.
Against Houston he only attempted (and made) a whopping two free throws.
For a team that had 6’5″ P.J. Tucker as the starting center, not only should the offense have gone through Ayton an exceptional amount, allowing him to post up on a player no less than seven inches shorter, but Ayton should have demanded it. How he possibly only attempted eight field goals over a defense that could not possibly stand up against him, is unfathomable.
And yet Monty Williams allowed it.
Monty is easily the best head coach the Phoenix Suns have employed since Alvin Gentry, and yet he still hasn’t found a way to get Deandre Ayton into the offense quite as efficiently as fans would have liked.
Is it possible to make a 1990’s-style player play the way a 2020’s player needs to?
That is impossible for us to answer now.
Yet not only should it be, but Ayton should demand it himself.
If Ayton’s scoring does tick up to the point where he is not only averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds per game (by the end of the season), but he actually has a 30 point game or two over the final stretch (I suppose it is kind of impossible for Monty to strategize 15 rebounds a game), then that can be placed on the head coach for finding a way to increase the center’s role in the offense.
Obviously, no matter what happens, Suns fans still want to watch a competitive team – preferably a winner – although we also want to see Devin Booker average a ridiculous stat line.
This victory over the Houston Rockets was just one game.
It did not mean that the Phoenix Suns turned the corner.
They could still end up losing 25 of their final 30 games.
But it was a sign of hope, which for fans of the franchise, is all that they can ask for at the moment.
James Jones failed to make a splash in at the trade deadline, and the Phoenix Suns look exactly as they did at the start of the regular season – better than they had over the past five years, but still not great.
Patience is one thing, but that is something that fans have offered more than they should ever have been required to.
What they need now is hope, and that is something that only the franchise can offer, and with the failure to add any decent pieces via trade, it is something that only the players and coaching staff can provide.
Even if the Phoenix Suns miss the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season (which should make every fan throw up in their mouth at the thought), if the team can actually give us hope – hope – then this season truly will have been a step in the right direction – even if it was nowhere near the length of step that fans actually deserved.