Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, left, fouls Miami Heat goalkeeper Gabe Vincent in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, in Miami. (AP Photo / Jim Rassol)
Wins for the Phoenix Suns, such as Tuesday’s 110-100 final at the Miami Heat, are the team they could use the most.
They were tested by a good team on the road, Miami (22-22) counterattacked at the end of the third quarter after the Suns (29-13) played a wonderful 14-minute stretch from the middle of the first half. the second quarter to the late third which raised them by up to 22.
Phoenix led by 12 at one point in the beginning of the fourth quarter, when that hit came and a combination of the second unit and Deandre Ayton had to stabilize.
They did, and that was all Miami had in them. The Suns showed a great feature in a handful of victories over good teams, where they continue to hit the chin, and then in the fourth quarter, there are no more shots for opponents. That wear and tear effect is the quality of a tough and tough team.
Ayton had one of his best games of the season and, for the first time in over a month, had a kind of two-way impact, which is nothing but encouraging.
“His selection coverage was very, very good,” head coach Monty Williams said of Ayton’s defense. “His attention to the edge of not making mistakes, raising his hands and making it difficult … these are dominant performances. I just thought his concentration was high. ”
Ayton finished with 17 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
“When he plays with that kind of strength and concentration, he gives us the chance to be that kind of defensive team that you saw tonight,” Williams said.
Devin Booker had his offensive mojo and turned in a few hard blows to record 23 points.
Four of the Suns’ five starters were at least 19-plus, a big evolution, given the surprising struggles of the season’s opening line to consistently outscore opponents. Phoenix had 29 assists in seven turnovers.
The Suns kept Heat Guard star Jimmy Butler at 14 points on 11 shots, without letting one of the best in the world reach the foul line after averaging more than eight free throws per night in his last 10 games. Williams said that avoiding mistakes at the rim is part of the game plan. Butler also had five turnovers.
Williams managed to play Booker, Chris Paul and Jae Crowder all under 30 minutes with a game in Orlando on Wednesday, while Ayton and Mikal Bridges played 34 each.
In a close match in a quarter and a half, there was a swing in the middle of the second where that aforementioned sunrise came from.
If you watched or listened, you may have missed the specific track to which you assigned it.
Williams said after a recent home game that Paul has a combination of stealing senses and instincts that he has never seen before.
Paul, almost like a basketball spirit in the distance, on some butterfly-type jackets, will often influence and redirect the flow of a game with one or two pieces that you could imagine doing. At the moment, it just seems like a dizzying piece. But looking back, it can sometimes be a turning point.
The previous Achiuwa, the warmth of the heat, lost his balance and missed a bunny after Paul hit here in the middle of the second quarter, with the Suns in front of three, and Paul took over the recovery after.
Paul gave back that twist for a possible lob to Booker and then set up Bridges for free throws with a dirty feed in the back, next time down.
After that comeback pic.twitter.com/ORmP3ESWzt
– Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) March 24, 2021
The Suns closed the first half in a 16-4 run after Achiuwa’s initial shot that would have put Miami at one point.
Would the next two passes by Paul have happened without that slip? May be. But it is one of those things that it has been a pleasure to take from following Paul every night, a testament to his all-time guardian status.
Sometimes it’s much more than the score would suggest in one night with eight points and nine assists.
Most of the same wonderful pattern had to do with the big guy.
Part of the reason Ayton was such a confused player to watch this year is not just because he’s inconsistent. Sure, the source of its inconsistency is a mystery, but inconsistent players can still be pretty easy to spot.
Ayton was not the case this season, as his performance was more erratic in a game, and his mistakes are sometimes ugly. Sometimes he looked like a rookie in the first two weeks, adjusting to the NBA. It’s weird.
The player I saw on Tuesday, however, returned to the program last season. When Ayton brought activity on the offensive line and received the ball early, this will usually cause him to walk more often. This was the case against the Heat.
With Miami changing sharply, the Suns tried to involve Ayton in the jump. And probably in the best development of the whole series for him, it didn’t go too early. He was blocked by Butler on his first shot, missed the second and Butler pulled Ayton’s seat in the third attempt to make him travel.
Instead of Ayton, he tried to win the position and eventually bore fruit. He took the following three photos.
From there, he remained a presence that returns and rolls to the basket while doing his job defensively.
And when he goes beyond “doing his job defensively” to really affect most of the goods, then he plays great basketball.
The third quarter was one of the best changes in Ayton’s career.
Crowder said that because of the way Ayton moves, I can exploit him as a team to make them a top defensive team, because Ayton is not just a one-dimensional defender on ball screens. Crowder said there is a “feeling” that Ayton can get better by putting himself in the right position, such as when to be in certain places, when to break the offensive window, when to drive the court and so on.
This feeling was fully reunited in that change.
Ayton said a lot of access to this type of area is knowing the staff and communicating with his perimeter defenders, which Crowder said they have constantly pointed out to Ayton and that he is improving.
“Around the defensive, we communicated throughout the game and that brought intensity and a sense of urgency tonight,” Ayton said.
Ayton changed almost every shot on the rim over an eight-minute stretch.
When Ayton came off the floor, the Suns ‘lead increased to 22. And after Dario Saric took his fifth foul in the first quarter, with the Suns’ advantage reduced to 15, Ayton was the starter who came back with the reserves and made sure that the game is in safe hands.
Expectations are too high to set, given Ayton’s third-year lows, but if this is the player the Suns can get in the playoffs, they can go all the way.
“In an ideal world, I actually want even more … For me, I’m never happy with what I’m pushing for because there are so many out there,” Williams said of Ayton.