Washington Wizards goalkeeper Raul Neto (19) walks past Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges (25) and goalie Devin Booker (1) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, January 11, 2021 Washington. The Robin Lopez Wizard Center (15) is watching. (Photo by AP / Nick Wass)
The Phoenix Suns would eventually be burned by their offensive ineptitude, especially at the start of the games.
He burned them in Friday’s loss to the very bad Detroit Pistons and burned them again in the 128-107 defeat in the hands of the Washington Wizards.
The Suns (7-4) went into action Monday night minus-21 in the first quarter through 10 games. Thanks to a remarkable plus-64 in the second quarter, they managed to compensate. However, they can’t rely on that, and on Monday he showed them why.
Phoenix scored 15 points in the first quarter and dropped just 20-15 at 2 p.m. The offense failed to dribble in and did not show any real urgency to create it. That, plus the poor jump numbers, brought them there. So when the defense was pointless, it was playing with fire against an explosive offensive team like Washington.
The wizards (3-8) launched them absolutely with steam from that moment.
To point out how quickly this happened, it was just a 15-point lead for the Wizards, with 8:42 for the end of the second quarter. This increased to 32 in less than four minutes, making a run of 37-10 wizards in 10 minutes of play.
The Suns managed just 42 points in the first half against a porous defense of the wizards that gave up 65.7 points in the first half before Monday’s match. They followed 68-42 in the half and failed to recover any ground, the closest margin in the second half being the final score. The Suns shot 4-of-27 from the three-point range.
“This is just one of those stinky things you want to wash and hurry up and get back on the floor,” said head coach Monty Williams.
“Our level of defense was not where it needed to be,” he added.
It was a very disabled effort overall by the Suns, but the lack of offensive pace was there again and now it’s a little amazing.
One of the trends inside is Chris Paul’s insistence on getting Deandre Ayton to go early. Paul almost seems to refuse to go out in search of his own shot until he shows the big guy a good look or two.
The chemistry there is still ongoing.
Paul, in general, was never the type of player who started to let go, and that was even more so in the twilight of his career. Even in the extraordinary season he had last year for Oklahoma City, which brought him All-NBA second team honors, he attempted only 12.7 shots per game.
In the first quarter of the first 10 games, Paul had 27 goal attempts with Ayton’s dog. Paul’s total number was remarkably consistent, remaining below three-quarters shots for all four periods.
Paul involving his teammates as he does is part of what makes him a great man of all time. Many of these become familiar and will definitely be a little more aggressive once the group starts clicking.
But in anticipation of this, the team specifically needs him to be more of a scoring threat right now, especially at the start of games and especially when most of his energy has been offensively towards get something for Ayton.
This is because Ayton’s decision around the rim of the ball has regressed to his debut season and is probably the worst. He continued to catch the ball close to the basket and did not try to finish, and on Monday he tripped over it as he did so, turning the ball over twice in the first half.
The starting center of the wizards, Robin Lopez, in place of the injured Thomas Bryant, was fine giving Ayton enough space.
This screenshot, in addition to a midrange conversion by Ayton, illustrates the amount of real estate that Ayton could work with to get to the basket if he showed more assertiveness.
Ayton has always been a player of finesse and his athletic limitations have never made him an incredibly explosive player around the wheel. The first and second jumps have never been great and are the same for vertical when jumping from one leg in motion.
Sometimes it doesn’t sink. It drives people crazy, and sometimes it’s good. It is what it is. He is who he is. As long as the layer is not to the detriment of the final product, for sure. Don’t sink.
However, the numbers have an amazing difference and a potential correlation with what has just been discussed.
An alley-oop in 11 games, in particular, is just amazing when you consider the passers-by on the floor (like Paul).
The offensive problems of the five beginners are not entirely about Ayton, but the effort to involve him and be energized certainly plays a role in it.
Ayton started Game 1 of 6 and finished with eight points and six rebounds in 25 minutes. His counterpart Lopez had 11 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes. Seven of the 11 rebounds were on the offensive window.
Paul recorded four points and eight assists in the first half, finishing with 14 points and 11 assists.
Devin Booker had 33 points in the loss.
Bradley Beal scored 34 points in Washington for the victory.
There are now 11 games in the season and the group of Paul, Booker, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder and Ayton has not yet managed to gel.
When asked about the bad beginnings, Williams said he attributes some of the familiarity, but flatly said the group is not playing well. Booker said it’s obvious and obvious, going so far as to say they were carried away by their bank in most of their victories.
Williams said he owes it to his team to “deeply” analyze the potential changes in the starting lineup.
The question, of course, is what this change could be.
Paul, Booker and Bridges obviously aren’t going anywhere.
Fans have already pushed Cam Johnson, and although Johnson is a better shooter than Crowder, Crowder has also proven to be the best gamer and is a much better defender. Crowder and Paul’s know-how to participate in team rotations 99 times out of 100 made a huge difference in the team’s defense, which was the team’s strength. This is also the easiest move to make if Williams just wants to shake things up a bit.
Ayton gives the Suns a defensive, glass-based presence that no one else on the team’s big rotation can come close to producing. Even when Ayton plays as he did on Monday, this is also true inside.
It was also the largest sub-coefficient of the group. Dario Saric helps the offensive run, and with what Ayton has shown this year, Saric is the best offensive player at the moment. When the rookies returned in the fourth quarter, Saric replaced Ayton a few minutes before the No. 1 general team played its last change of the night.
There are obvious concerns about what a move to the bench could make for the 22-year-old Ayton, but it didn’t work out for him with the starters, other than a great two-game stretch. The other nine were not up to par, and this team is not able to wait for him with the expectations that are what they are.
Now, the interesting wrinkle is that Williams has played Saric with Ayton in the last three games, after not doing it all season. Saric has proven in the ball that his best role is small, but he offers a bit of what makes Crowder as a smart team defender who can play offensively.
However, this plays Saric out of position, where his speed at both ends is exposed to 4s. It also puts Damian Jones or Frank Kaminsky in the reserve center, which is problematic.
It is a difficult decision and not an obvious one. Are the Sunnis ready for a shakeup? A 7-4 start does not scream despair, but the disparity between the bench and the five starts leaves little to begin to enter.