The Phoenix Suns’ main problem wasn’t the second game of a duel … on the street … against playoff teams … on the east coast. ‘
No
The problem was 6 for 35.
The Phoenix Suns are in a great position with just a handful of pre-season games and can apply tough lessons they learned on the track.
Despite Thursday’s cold shooting issues, this team, which beat Milwaukee and Philadelphia on the road in a row, is ready for playoff testing.
The Suns main problem may have been containing a healthy Kemba Walker, coach Monty Williams versus Steph Curry and Damian Lillard because of the Celtics guard’s ability to score downhill, his stoppin and poppin on the way 32 Points.
But it wasn’t like that.
The problem was 6 for 35, a terrible night out of 3 point land.
Phoenix Suns Lesson 1
The officials just won’t get to Devin Booker’s mindset. They don’t have – and probably won’t, at least this season – give bookers the benefit of the doubt on close calls.
It really becomes a waste of energy – and technical fouls. Just assume that the calls continue the same way. And keep playing harder.
Even with this team, the effort is never an issue. The Suns surpassed the Celtics 46-30 in color.
Phoenix Suns Lesson 2
Chris Paul will take care of the playoff offense needed in a postseason series. Paul is indispensable, regardless of whether he has to score, distribute, steal or simply continue to lead the team.
In the second half of Thursday night, he found answers that prevented the crime from completely disappearing. And that way, he had the suns able to win a game they probably hadn’t won a deal.
Paul didn’t have much to do with the Boston rebound, however.
The suns lost the board battle 38-28 and that will happen when you are 6-35 out of 3 point range.
Phoenix Suns Lesson 3
On a night when the team couldn’t throw the ball cleanly into the East River, the Suns were within nine points and had plenty of time to end an unlikely rally.
That has to feel good. Lose by 13, keep your opponent under 100 and find out that – at least mathematically speaking – you had a very good chance of winning if you hit 11 of your 35 3-point attempts.
This collection of lessons has to be even more effective when the suns are able to play in a row. The smarter team; The one who is better able to make pre-game and in-game adjustments has a better chance of winning a series.
Or a couple of them.
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