Phoenix Suns: Player grades from win over the Miami Heat

Jevon Carter
Grade: A++

What is amazing about Jevon Carter’s performance on Saturday is that he didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary. He just played with the same blueprint he always does: provide tenacious defense and knock down open shots.

He just did a lot of the latter.

Carter hit six of his eight 3s and gave Monty Williams no choice but to keep him in the game late in the fourth quarter when the game was tight, allowing him to finish with the starters in place of Cam Johnson.

In addition to his shooting, he played his usual intense defense, but that isn’t all. After the game, he borderline called out his teammates to get on his level.

"“I hate when I’m sitting on the bench and I see our guys doing the NBA thing, being lax, trying to preserve their energy so they can go score…I try to tell our guys if we stay locked in on defense, good things are gonna happen more often than not.”"

He’s not wrong.

Maybe a game like this will give a little more credence to his mindset and make it more contagious to the rest of his teammates. That isn’t a sleight to everyone else, but this team is at its best when the defense is at its pique.