Phoenix Suns Problems Without Chris Paul: Shooter are Letting Booker Down
This first criticism for the Suns only applies to the Pelicans game, not so much the Jazz game—where Phoenix ended up shooting a scorching 51.2 percent from the field.
But in backtracking first to the Oklahoma City game which Phoenix won, Devin Booker came through with 12 assists. Against the Pelicans and Jazz though, he tallied 12 assists between both those games.
When facing the Pels, Booker got to the rim early and often. He put up seven shots in the paint, so any inability to get into the teeth of the defense was not responsible for Phoenix’s demise that night.
Instead, it was the woeful shooting that came after kick-out passes following those drives into the paint.
While the Suns shot 38.0 from three against the Thunder—leading to all those assists for Booker, they shot just 30.0 percent against the Pelicans.
Unfortunately for the Suns, they do not possess that much shot creating talents outside of Booker right now, so hitting those threes will be critical for them to succeed minus Chris Paul.
In the Thunder game, Johnson got hot from deep, going 4-8 from deep. Aaron Holiday hit two from beyond the arc, as did Jae Crowder. The Suns need more of that if they want to continue their winning ways during this CP3-less stretch. Their game plan must focus on ball movement, working for clean looks, and of course burying them.