After losing in Game 1, the Suns hoped to quickly bounce back to win Game 2 to regain home court advantage. And the meeting has long seemed to be able to switch to one side or the other. Except that the Suns collapsed in the last quarter, with a Kevin Durant unusually clumsy.
Led 2-0, Phoenix has three days to prepare to win an absolutely crucial meeting, because a 3-0 deficit would (almost) mean elimination.
“We have to believe in it, that it will switch to our side” launched Monty Williams. “We have to go home and do the job. This is where we are at the moment. We would have loved to come here and take one, but our fans are some of the best in the world and we need them when we return home, because we have a chance to equalize on our pitch.”.
The loss of Chris Paul
After a fight on the rebound with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Chris Paul immediately held the adductor. The leader then took the direction of the locker room and did not return from the meeting. When he left the game with just under five minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Suns still led by 4 points. Subsequently, Monty Williams’ men sank in the final quarter, losing 27-14.
“He couldn’t push on it anymore. We’re not sure what it is but it looks like it’s something in the groin area, we’ll know more tomorrow” said the Suns coach. ” It is sad. I don’t know what it is yet. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but all we can do is hope he recovers quickly. We’re going to stick with it while he’s out or if he’s out.” added Devin Booker.
The loss of Chris Paul is necessarily a blow for Phoenix, especially since the Suns do not really have another pure point guard, capable of laying the game and creating for others.
When he left the match, it was Devin Booker who thus took matters into his own hands. We can highlight the age, the fragility, or the bad luck of Chris Paul in the playoffs, but it must be said that Monty Williams has been shooting a lot on his holders since the start of the “postseason”, and when we know the history of CP3 at this stage of the competition is something you could feel coming. Just yesterday, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant each played 44 minutes…
“I think it’s a lot” recognized Monty Williams. “It is true that Booker was probably more tired than he admitted, but when Chris is not on the field, it puts a lot of pressure on his shoulders. So I have to find a solution.”.
A bench close to nothingness
When the Suns made that trade for Kevin Durant, we knew bench depth was going to be a problem. Something that was once again confirmed yesterday.
Offensively, only 2 points scored by the six players who came off the bench in the first half. In the second half, bis repeated with 2 new points scored. In total, the Suns substitutes have therefore scored 4 small points in 71 minutes combined! Monty Williams will have to quickly find solutions, even if we know that the “role players” are often better at home in the playoffs.
Now down 2-0, the Suns are back to the wall, and must win their two games at home.
“Anything is possible in the playoffs. A lot of things are happening, so we just have to accept the challenge, accept the opportunity that we have at the moment, even if we are trailing 2-0” explained Devin Booker. “We have to go home, protect our land, and go from there”.
Historically, however, the Suns are 0-13 in the playoffs when trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven series. But all the series end one day or another…
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Devin Booker | 53 | 34.6 | 49.4 | 35.1 | 85.5 | 0.9 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 3.0 | 27.8 |
| Kevin Durant | 8 | 33.7 | 57.0 | 53.7 | 83.3 | 0.4 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 26.0 |
| Deandre Ayton | 67 | 30.4 | 58.9 | 29.2 | 76.0 | 2.6 | 7.4 | 10.0 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 18.0 |
| Mikal Bridges | 56 | 36.4 | 46.3 | 38.7 | 89.7 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 17.2 |
| Cameron Johnson | 17 | 25.3 | 47.4 | 45.5 | 81.8 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 13.9 |
| Chris Paul | 59 | 32.0 | 44.0 | 37.5 | 83.1 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 8.9 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 13.9 |
| Cameron Payne | 48 | 20.2 | 41.5 | 36.8 | 76.6 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 4.5 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 10.3 |
| Terrence Ross | 21 | 18.4 | 42.8 | 34.7 | 85.7 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 9.0 |
| Landry Shamet | 40 | 20.2 | 37.7 | 37.7 | 88.2 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 8.7 |
| Damion Lee | 74 | 20.4 | 44.2 | 44.5 | 90.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 8.2 |
| Duane Washington, Jr. | 31 | 12.7 | 36.7 | 36.0 | 66.7 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 7.9 |
| Torrey Craig | 79 | 24.7 | 45.6 | 39.5 | 71.1 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 5.4 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 7.4 |
| Josh Okogie | 72 | 18.8 | 39.1 | 33.5 | 72.4 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 7.3 |
| Jock Landale | 69 | 14.2 | 52.8 | 25.0 | 75.2 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 6.6 |
| Saben Lee | 23 | 15.8 | 39.3 | 37.9 | 73.7 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 6.3 |
| Dario Saric | 37 | 14.4 | 42.7 | 39.1 | 81.8 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 5.8 |
| Bismack Biyombo | 61 | 14.3 | 57.8 | 0.0 | 35.7 | 1.5 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 4.3 |
| Tj Warren | 16 | 12.3 | 42.9 | 31.6 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.2 |
| Ish Wainright | 60 | 15.3 | 37.0 | 32.9 | 83.9 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 4.2 |
| Darius Bazley | 7 | 8.7 | 48.0 | 25.0 | 40.0 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
