PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns’ 113-97 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday night proved they can still provide a ton of firepower, even if they’re underpowered.
Grayson Allen tied a franchise record with nine 3-pointers, a new career best, and scored a game-high 31 points. Devin Booker achieved his seventh double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 assists, and Bradley Beal continues to perform well.
Beal had his best game as a Sun thus far, finishing with 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting, eight rebounds and nine assists.
This trio really took advantage of what Miami (20-15) was trying to accomplish defensively. At first glance, this game may not seem like the Suns’ cleanest win of the season, but their performance was very crisp, especially on the offensive end. It was a comfortable night for Phoenix (19-16)’s key players, with Beal at +27 on the night.
“Trust, trust to make the right shot to the right player,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel said, noting Allen made 14 shots from deep. “Laser 3-pointer makes more shots for his shooters.”
Allen knew Miami was a great team going into the night with its defensive lineup, focused ball handlers and slow recovery, as evidenced by Beal and Booker’s combined 19 assists. right. Allen got an early second down and was ready for whatever happened next.
“From that point on, it’s like, are they going to adjust and get out of the gap and drive to Brad and Book and get into the paint, or are they going to keep showing and get out for a late contest,” Allen said. said. “They mixed it up and did a little bit of both, but I was still able to make some one-pass away shots and take advantage of that.”
That one-pass away part is a key element of the Suns’ spacing, something they’re already good at and showed how to do on Friday, even if they don’t have the full shooting arsenal.
An entertaining first half of basketball saw the Suns lead by seven points and both teams performed well offensively, taking quality shots. Coming out of halftime, Phoenix kept it going, racking up a few stops to get going in transition. Add to that some great one-on-one buckets from Booker and Beal, and the Suns suddenly found themselves in 18th place.
From there, Miami couldn’t get enough looks to fight back. The Suns didn’t do a very good job defensively at times, and the Heat didn’t reward the Suns enough, making just 10 of 37 (27%) from the field and not making much of a comeback the rest of the game. Ta. of the road. Miami’s 26 assists on 34 field goals was a testament to how well they moved the ball and on any other night they would have won this game.
But getting back to the defense, head coach Frank Vogel said after the game that a lot of it was intentional. Phoenix has focused on protecting and improving the paint in recent weeks. Items like containment, gap recognition and Roman’s dedication were great for the Suns as they held Miami to 36 points in the paint.
“Defensively, it was probably our best game plan execution of the year,” Vogel said.
The Suns did a good job of negating the Heat’s players’ tendency to chase Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson from the 3-point line, even with the help of Bam Adebayo.
“I don’t want to underestimate how excited I am to hold my team under 100 points,” Vogel said.
A few possessions for the Heat looked like breakdowns to open outside shooters, but it was mostly connected to the performance of the inside defense.
“It was really good, dude. It was probably our best defensive game all year to be honest in terms of following the game plan and getting it done for 48 minutes,” said Beal, who was honest about his team’s defensive shortcomings. Told. “Our plan really worked tonight.”
Phoenix will be without Kevin Durant (right hamstring strain), Eric Gordon (sore right knee) and Nasir Little (sore left knee), while Miami will be without Jimmy Butler (foot), Haywood Highsmith (concussion protocol), Caleb Martin (right ankle sprain) was out. It felt more noticeable. The Suns didn’t have much of a chance to handle Adebayo, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds, but no other player in Miami reached more than 10 points other than Kevin Love’s 20 points off the bench.
Josh Okogie had a much-needed great night, summarizing what we learned from him for 24 minutes. He went 7-of-8 from the foul line for all his points, and also had two rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks. The Suns’ Goodnight defense also included forced turnovers, scoring 19 points off of the Heat’s 16 turnovers. Miami is eager to hit the ball on the post depending on the matchup, and Phoenix was prepared for that approach and showed great effort in denying it.
There were three injury-related moments for Phoenix in this game.
Bolbol, who showed great energy in his new rotational role this week, sprained his right ankle in the third quarter and did not return. The X-ray test was negative.
Jusuf Nurkic took a shot to the face in the fourth quarter, but immediately went to the locker room and did not return to the game. Vogel said he did not have a concussion-like situation.
Beal had another scary moment in the final frame, at least from the outside, when he missed a turnover and limped back to the huddle, remaining in the game. But after the game, he said he was fine, just had some weird gait. Beal wasn’t afraid of him hurting anything and made sure it was one of those moves that wouldn’t have been as much of an issue if he was a more active version of himself a decade ago. did.
The absence of the aforementioned Suns trio freed up a few minutes for Yuta Watanabe to make his first rotation appearance in several weeks. Additionally, Drew Eubanks slotted in as the fifth backup over Udoka Azubuike on a two-way contract, giving Eubanks another crack at the position he originally held at the beginning of the season. These are two players who were much better on other teams last year than they were this season with Phoenix. While Eubanks recovered from a shaky first half and made some plays in the second half, Watanabe couldn’t do much for nine minutes.
Phoenix is 4-1 in a six-game homestand.