The need for reactionary thoughts intensified after the Phoenix Suns’ 109-99 win over the Philadelphia 76ers that was our first look at Phoenix with a new starting lineup.
The Suns moved Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic to the bench in favor of Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee, a shakeup the group had to have after an awful level of play for nearly two months.
The moves don’t change a ton about how the Suns will play stylistically or what they will be able to do. It’s more about if this provides a spark to the team, waking them up into a realization of how they have to play to make the playoffs.
Did this win tell us the shakeup was a success and that the vibes are back? No. The results through one game were always going to be inconclusive, but at least for the Suns, they were able to take some sort of step in the right direction by beating a team they should.
The Sixers (14-20) were depleted, without Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Joel Embiid (left foot sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip soreness), Jared McCain (left knee surgery) and K.J. Martin (broken left foot). They also do not have former Sun Eric Gordon playing consistently in the rotation. That meant their bench on Monday was comprised of veteran end-of-the-bench addition Reggie Jackson, second-round pick Adem Bona and three undrafted players with limited NBA experience: Ricky Council IV, Jeff Dotwin Jr. and Justin Edwards.
After a first half that showed why both of these underachieving teams are in their respective positions, the third quarter swung this one, and in the Suns’ favor.
Philadelphia put forth heinous shooting efficiency in the middle quarters, going 16-of-49 (32.7%). The Suns (16-18) used this as natural momentum to find some real energy for the first time on the evening across a 19-3 spurt to help lead by five entering the fourth quarter. A botched catch on a lob in transition for Kevin Durant with the Suns up 12 felt like the big knockout punch coming was missed, and from that point on, Philly’s Kelly Oubre Jr. had the best motor on the floor.
Phoenix had some decent defensive moments, but like the first half, nothing indicated it was turning a new leaf. The closest we got to that was the opening of the fourth quarter, an 11-4 run to extend the lead to a dozen. Growth would be closing out a terrible Philadelphia performance before things could get unnecessarily hairy in crunch time and the Suns finally found offensive rhythm at the right time to nearly close this one out without any dramatics. Philly crept back within eight at over 90 seconds remaining before a Devin Booker drive-and-kick found Durant for the dagger 3.
The Suns’ engagement, especially in the first half, sure did not look like any type of response to the starting lineup decision. But they did get enough positive individual contributions to win this one and ignite some of the aforementioned energy that it’ll hope carries over.
Phoenix closed with Durant, Booker, Beal, Dunn and Oso Ighodaro. Beal’s rim pressure across spurts on both ends that felt lifeless was sorely needed and he scored a team-high 25 points off the bench. Dunn did a terrific job defending Paul George (5-of-18) and added 15 points with a trio of 3s. His fellow rookie Ighodaro also had a strong game, with his eight points factoring into 54 Suns bench points.
Durant only provided 23 points (9-of-14) and Booker had another very rough shooting night at 3-of-16, but Phoenix’s supporting cast vastly outplayed Philly’s to make up for 31 points from Tyrese Maxey and 26 out of Oubre. Booker and Durant combined for 15 assists and six turnovers.
While Beal played 29 minutes, Nurkic only reached 14. Both of them deserve a lot of credit for looking just as locked in as they normally are despite the clear and public demotions.
