The Phoenix Suns blow out the Utah Jazz in Ricky Rubio revenge game

The Phoenix Suns trounced the Utah Jazz in the Ricky Rubio revenge game. He did not disappoint, putting up one of the best stat lines of any player in NBA this season.

In Monday night’s victory over the Utah Jazz, the Phoenix Suns played the exact kind of game they need to play in order to win consistently. Every player did the thing they do best and it gelled the team like into a fine-tuned basketball machine.

The most impressive player of the night was, no doubt, former starting point guard for the Utah Jazz, Ricky Rubio.

Rubio poured in 22 points, 11 rebounds, and an incredible seven steals on his way to the best game as a member of the Phoenix Suns. This is the only time all season any NBA player has scored more than 20 points, dished out more than10 assists and recorded at least six steals.

On a much more shallow yet equally important note, it was good to see a member of the Phoenix Suns have a player get in a strong revenge game against a former team. Usually, it a former Phoenix player who careers against the Suns, so flipping the script had to feel good.

It also probably helped that Rubio knew all the Jazz’s plays.

Rubio wasn’t the only player to play well; everyone was the best version of themselves. Ayton racked up a solid 16 points with most of them coming right around the rim. It wasn’t a domin-AYTON game, yet he was still aggressive.

Devin Booker, who just returned from Kobe Bryant’s celebration of life event at Staples Center in Los Angeles, scored 24 points. Enough said.

Oubre was his best slashing, dunking, and head-bobbing self even though he got another technical foul for the exuberance.

Some refs think they are part of the game instead of neutral observers doing an objective job. They should view themselves more of a timekeeper rather than that of a theatric performer.

I’ve seen officials call a charge much more emphatically than Oubre bobs his head, and no one punishes them out for taunting.

Maybe refs should wear lucha libre masks to hide their identity and maybe they won’t feel so emboldened to make “look-at-me” calls. Then again, that would probably make them want to have their own entrance complete with music and a video highlight real of their best and-1 fist swings.

Enough complaining though. That was a small stain on a great win. Remember, the Jazz have the fifth-best record in the West, and they also didn’t play that poorly.

Overall, they shot 47.1 percent on their way to 111 points. And they still lost by 20. No one on any team had that many rebounds because there weren’t that many to be had with the Suns shooting 56.3 percent themselves.

It was a return to the style of play that matched exactly what made the Suns successful earlier in the year. The Suns dished out an impressive 33 total assists, moving the ball the way they did when they were so fun to watch.

And the bench!

The group that is (almost) back to full strength played their part well, scoring 43 points. Baynes hit a 3 while Saric, Carter, Johnson hit two of them. On top of that, Baynes led the team in rebounding with eight and there wasn’t nearly the visual drop-off from the reserves were in the game.

Overall, this was simply a great win. Moreover, Rubio said after the game this team is going to make a run for the playoffs, something that coming off a 20 point blowout, doesn’t seem entirely impossible.

Even if it is, seeing this team play like they did Monday night has to give Suns fans some much-needed confidence moving forward.