Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) celebrates him with goalie Chris Paul (3) after making a basket against the Toronto Raptors in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, March 26, 2021, in Tampa, Florida ( AP Photo / Chris O’Meara)
The Phoenix Suns made key pieces when they had to come in the evening, but they were lucky that there was no extra minute or two on the clock.
They won 104-100 against the Toronto Raptors due to clutch moments such as Deandre Ayton’s block, Chris Paul and Devin Booker’s free throws and Mikal Bridges’ offensive rebound to secure the victory.
“Just a lot of huge pieces tonight,” said head coach Monty Williams.
Phoenix needed these, though, because after Paul’s 6:18 left jumper lifted the Suns 98-88 6:18 left, the Suns scored six points for the rest of the game and had one goal on the field. Paul and Booker combined to get out 4-of-4 from the foul band in the last minute.
A game after a loss to the Orlando Magic, in which the Suns recorded 20 points in the fourth quarter, was 21 on Friday.
“I liked everything until the fourth quarter,” Williams said of the offensive execution. “I scored 21 points, but [Toronto] scored just 23. ”
Williams went on to describe a basketball brand in the playoffs that broke out in the fourth quarter, which he called “slugfest.”
One of the factors that contributed to this was Booker’s funk until the end of the last 12 minutes.
In a row of events we haven’t seen from him in his young career, Booker is 3 out of 18 on the field in the fourth quarter of the last seven games. He was 0-for-4 against the Raptors and missed two shots with the Suns up by two and less than 70 seconds.
The last miss was the one that Bridges snatched with six seconds left and then the Suns called the timeout. The recipient went to Booker, who, to his credit, sank both free throws to seal him.
Booker now records 39.9% in the final frame of the season and 30.4% in the clutch, ie the last five minutes of a game when the score is five points. He proved to be a clutch player in Phoenix for six years, and when asked if he noticed anything especially in his film in the last few games, Booker said he didn’t even notice.
“Earnings are coming,” he said. “This is the main goal every night. I have shown for many years winning basketball, so everything I have to do to win: whether it is defensive, offensive, leading by example, leading by voice. We have an altruistic team. We can win by one point, we can win by 20 – I will be happy no matter what. ”
And he was a very happy man this year, as the Suns improved to 30-14 with the victory.
Booker finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists in 6 of 14. When he combines Booker’s shot attempts and assists a 16, he is the youngest in 24 games, a testament to his plan. Toronto head coach Nick Nurse’s game to limit his impact.
At that moment, the nurse cast a variety of defensive glances at the sun. The basics helped Booker dribble a lot to force Phoenix shooters to play and crash into Ayton’s posts once he dribbled the ball to force him to make decisions.
The Raptors won a championship because of their ability to do such things as defense, such as the farthest defenders in the right places to help and then the ability to fight and recover from there. However, they are far from being a quality defense of the championship, and the Suns have managed to put holes in it on a regular basis.
Given this, the Suns still shot only 9-of-36 (25.0%) in the three-point range, so some of the nurse’s plan was successful.
But Ayton wasn’t so bothered because he was assertive and behaved like the biggest guy on the field he was. As Toronto became small and put on the long and powerful 6-foot-7 OG Anunoby on him, Ayton was 9-for-12 with 19 points and nine rebounds.
His defense continues to rise in the last half-dozen games and get back on track to the level he played last year. The aforementioned block on Pascal Siakam in Toronto was a big piece, with less than two minutes left:
Ayton attributed the technique to his hands and feet while saying Williams was on it in connection with it.
A strong first half by Paul and contributions from all over the bench helped the Suns be able to win.
Paul finished the night with 19 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Langston Galloway (eight points), Cam Johnson (seven), Cam Payne (four) and Dario Saric (eight) all scored at least two goals on the field, while Johnson (three assists), Payne (two) and Torrey Craig (three) combined for eight of the Suns’ 26 assists.
The biggest lead of the Raptors game was four points and they were in the second half. Siakam performed well with a maximum score of 26 points and 11 rebounds, plus six assists.
As the Suns neared the end of their four-game journey, with a Sunday game in Charlotte against the Hornets, again avoiding a series of losses in the past two and a half months, even with the way they won Friday, it is always a positive thing.
“I’d rather win badly than lose enough,” Williams said.