Phoenix Suns word game: The four-game winning streak is (fill in the blank)

Deandre Ayton played a very ______ game.

DEANDRE AYTON

Yes, the word I’m using to fill in this one is an adjective that in the basketball dictionary. In fact, if you were to look up “Deandre Ayton” in said dictionary, you’d see every one of Ayton’s plays from this game.

Ayton led the team in points and rebounds, and yet, you would never realize it if you were just casually watching the game. It is not that Ayton plays soft, he just plays, I don’t know…delicate.

It is as if John Wooden was his basketball coach in a former life and engrained into his soul that dunking was an abomination of the Lord.

We groan (and will forever groan) about Ayton’s propensity to shoot the middy over making a strong move to the basket, but in this game, he didn’t even dunk when there was nothing but one small guard in the general vicinity. He even had an open run to the lane at one point and an ally oop where somehow, even though he threw the ball into the basket from above the hoop at point-blank range, his hands never touched the rim.

Maybe he has soft skin. I don’t know.

My opinions don’t always align with Eddie Johnson’s but he is right when he says that if Ayton was more vicious around the rim, he’d get a lot more easy shots because players will be shy about getting in his way the next time.

Still, the guy fills up the box score, so what are you going to do? His defense was also solid on several plays as he racked up four blocks and did very well on a few other plays where he stayed vertical, causing an errant shot.

Anyway, cheers to the big man for playing a very Deandre Ayton game. As for the Phoenix Suns’ other star…