With Chris Paul returning to host league leaders Celtics, the Suns had the perfect backdrop to bounce back from their loss to the Mavericks. Finally, the evening was nightmarish with a heavy defeat (125-98) plus the first place in the Western Conference lost.
The Suns have never existed in this meeting: they are 10 points behind after twelve minutes, then 27 at the break, finally 39 at the start of the last quarter…
“We fell into the hole from the start and when we were very far, at 20 or 25 points, and it’s not our habit, we let go a little”concedes Devin Booker for Arizona Sports.
Monty Williams could only see the damage, when Chris Paul dared an interesting comparison.
“They were much more physically determined than us and that bothered us. We are not used to that and there are only a few matches where I felt that. analyzes the coach. “It’s funny because the Celtics look like the team we were last season,” notice the leader. “They come out of Finals lost and the machine is well oiled. »
The finalists, motivated by their failure, who dominate the following regular season, it is a well-known pattern in the NBA. There are many examples in recent years: Detroit in 2005/2006, Dallas in 2006/2007, Los Angeles in 2008/2009, or even Phoenix in 2021/2022 and therefore Boston at the moment.
“We took two beatings in a row. We have to look in the mirror”
This defeat against the Celtics could therefore be a simple mishap for Phoenix, but it comes after another slap, against the Mavericks. Two straight losses is a first this season for Phoenix.
“It’s frustrating because normally we don’t lose twice in a row and when there are big matches to play, we are there”believes Deandre Ayton. “Tonight, we didn’t do all that. »
A sign that this evening is really to be forgotten for the Arizona franchise: this defeat and the victory of New Orleans at the same time make it lose first place in the Western Conference. A response is quickly expected and that’s good, the next two matches are against… the Pelicans.
“We have to keep moving forward,” announces Chris Paul. “We have to put this in the trash”, continues Devin Booker. “We took two beatings in a row. We can’t put that on the back of systems, rotations or the coach. We have to look in the mirror and correct ourselves. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Devin Booker | 24 | 35.8 | 48.8 | 39.0 | 87.2 | 0.8 | 4.0 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 28.4 |
| Deandre Ayton | 22 | 29.0 | 62.2 | 30.8 | 73.0 | 2.9 | 6.7 | 9.6 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 17.1 |
| Mikal Bridges | 24 | 36.5 | 51.6 | 44.7 | 88.9 | 1.1 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 16.0 |
| Cameron Payne | 22 | 26.4 | 41.3 | 38.9 | 75.6 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 5.8 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 13.0 |
| Cameron Johnson | 8 | 25.3 | 44.6 | 43.1 | 72.7 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 13.0 |
| Chris Paul | 10 | 30.2 | 36.8 | 27.3 | 88.2 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 9.4 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 9.5 |
| Damion Lee | 24 | 21.3 | 46.3 | 48.4 | 91.3 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 8.4 |
| Torrey Craig | 21 | 23.6 | 47.3 | 38.2 | 76.9 | 1.9 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 7.6 |
| Landry Shamet | 15 | 16.6 | 40.7 | 38.7 | 89.5 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 7.4 |
| Jock Landale | 21 | 12.8 | 52.1 | 14.3 | 80.0 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 6.3 |
| Duane Washington, Jr. | 15 | 9.0 | 37.7 | 28.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 4.6 |
| Ish Wainright | 9 | 13.8 | 46.4 | 50.0 | 66.7 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 4.4 |
| Dario Saric | 11 | 12.2 | 36.4 | 35.0 | 71.4 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 4.0 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 20 | 12.2 | 53.8 | 0.0 | 40.0 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 3.2 |
| Josh Okogie | 20 | 8.3 | 33.3 | 13.0 | 62.5 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 2.4 |
