Phoenix Suns Game 5 Key to Victory: Halt the Turnovers
Giving up the rock time after time hurts just about any team, but the way Phoenix turned it over and gave away points in their winning games compared to their losing ones is too glaring to not include on here.
During Phoenix’s winning games, the Suns averaged 17.0 opponent points off turnovers—not great, but nothing horrible. But during Phoenix’s losses vs Dallas, they gave 22.5 opponent points off turnovers.
Fixing this starts with Chris Paul, who looked like an anti-version of himself in these last two games. The typically clean-playing Point God turned it over a combined nine times in his last two games. He needs to rediscover his tight handle on the rock before he does anything else.
Although his overall sporadic play makes it less noticeable, Devin Booker has also played loosely, turning it over 10 times between his last two games. Just being another ball-handler, he needs to focus against this tough Dallas defense and avoid giving up extra possessions, and points by extension.
From there, Phoenix should turn the tide in this series. These three elements all resemble important ingredients in any winning recipe, and with how we’ve seen the Suns play throughout the rest of they year, we know they can add them in a flash.