domingo, 27 de octubre de 2019

Utah Jazz will find that Phoenix is no longer a pushover as Suns are off to a strong start to season

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) celebrates his score against the LA Clippers with Suns guard Jevon Carter (4) during the second half of a basketball game Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, in Phoenix. The Suns defeated the Clippers 130-122. | Ross D. Franklin, AP

PHOENIX — If the Jazz had one game circled on their tough 10-game stretch to start the 2019-20 season that they could pencil in as a win, it would likely have been Monday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns, who have the second-longest playoff drought in the NBA and were picked by many experts as the worst team in the Western Conference, not only had a new coach in Monty Williams, but as many as three new starters. Last season, the Jazz won their four games against the Suns by an average of 24.7 points, including a 19-point average margin in their two wins in Phoenix.

But look out now. There may not be a more impressive team in the opening week of the NBA season than the Suns, who have been playing without their No. 1 draft pick from a year ago, center DeAndre Ayton, who was suspended after the first game for 25 games because of drug violation.

The Suns opened with a 29-point win over Sacramento, then went to Denver and lost by one in overtime to a team picked high in the Western Conference, before returning home to beat the L.A. Clippers, a team picked to win the West by many, 130-122 Saturday night.

Former Jazzman Ricky Rubio, who signed with the Suns in the offseason as a free agent, was a big part of those first two games. He had 11 points, 11 assists and four steals against Sacramento, then came back with nine assists against the Nuggets when he tallied 9 points. However he suffered a left knee contusion in that game and had to miss Saturday’s game against the Clippers. His status for Monday was not known as of Sunday evening.

The Suns’ best player is guard Devin Booker, a guy the Jazz had a chance to draft in 2015 when they took his Kentucky teammate Trey Lyles with the No. 12 pick and Booker went No. 13. Of course, if the Jazz had taken Booker, they wouldn’t have ended up with Donovan Mitchell because two years later, Utah traded Lyles to get the first-round pick from Denver that produced Mitchell.

Other starters for Phoenix are Dario Saric, who played the last two seasons at Philadelphia and Minnesota, Aron Baynes, who played for the Celtics and Kelly Oubre, a former No. 1 pick out of Kansas.

Saric and Baynes were acquired in a summer trade involving Boston, Minnesota and Indiana and several draft picks. Oubre came to the Suns in a trade with Washington last season for Trevor Ariza.

Williams acknowledges his team may not be as talented as others, but has played with a lot of effort so far this season.

”I don’t think you can win without it, that’s how I have always approached the game,” he said. “There are teams in the league that have so much talent and they can turn the switch on. We can’t and our guys understand that. We have talent, but we don’t have continuity. We just got together so we have to play hard. We have to play with a level of force every single night.”

The Jazz are coming off a solid victory over Sacramento Saturday night after a poor performance the night before in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Against the Kings, the Jazz led by as many as 37 points midway through the third quarter before winning by 32. Newcomer Bojan Bogdanovich broke out with a 26-point night, including 23 in the first half, while Mike Conley finally had a decent shooting night with 5 of 11 from the field for 12 points.

After Monday’s game, the Jazz come back home to play the Clippers Wednesday night at home, before hitting the road for a pair of games against Sacramento Friday and the Clippers again on Sunday.



from Deseret News https://ift.tt/31S4rAW

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