The Phoenix Suns came into Monday having won six of their last eight games, something that didn’t quite represent their overall level of play but perhaps was enough positive momentum to build off of and get back on the right track.
A matchup with the Eastern-Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers was a solid indicator to see if they were indeed onto something, a notion swiftly rebuffed by a 118-92 loss.
This was not quite the long-anticipated look of seeing the Suns against the best at full strength, as Cleveland (36-6) was without Evan Mobley (right calf strain), Caris LeVert (right wrist soreness) and Isaac Okoro (right shoulder AC joint sprain). Outside of the win on Christmas over the Denver Nuggets, we haven’t gotten to see Phoenix (21-21) tested by some of the better teams in the NBA at their near-full capabilities since its skid really kicked off in mid-November.
Nick Richards got the start for the Suns after a very impressive debut while Bradley Beal returned from a two-game hiatus, essentially putting the Suns at 100% since Jusuf Nurkic (return to competition reconditioning) is out of the rotation.
From strictly an energy and execution standpoint on both ends, the first half was one of the Suns’ three best halves in the last two months. But they were poor in ball screen coverage, turned it over too much and briefly got stymied by a zone defense that capitalized on their lack of cohesion. Against as good of a team as Cleveland, even shorthanded, that resulted in a 13-point deficit.
The Suns had a handful of results like this last year and a few this season too when even with the mind-numbing issues mostly contained, they simply are not good enough to beat good-to-great teams playing to a certain standard. That suddenly made the second half interesting, a response that would either show some stick-to-itiveness or an acceptance to fold once Cleveland provided one more push to put the game away.
Cleveland’s Max Strus hit back-to-back 3s, and then off a Devin Booker turnover while attempting to draw a foul, the Cavaliers scored via an offensive rebound to go ahead by 19 less than two minutes in. It was a stretch that confirmed why the first half felt so different.
Phoenix then went small, presumably to try and solve some of the defensive issues, but that’s when the Suns got sped up with bad giveaways and then quickly got up to seven offensive rebounds allowed across just the opening six minutes of the third quarter alone.
Booker and Kevin Durant then tried to get rolling with their individual scoring in the way they did in Saturday’s win to carry that victory, but it was already too late and again showing the style of play this team turns to in trying times after moving the ball much more in the first half. Unless the Suns stumbled onto some poor shooting by Cleveland, that confirmed they were already done for.
After trailing by as many as 23, the Suns briefly got within 14 off exactly that before the deficit predictably ballooned back to 23 at the end of the quarter.
Phoenix’s star duo combined for six assists and nine turnovers. Booker had six of those turnovers, the first time this year he’s gone north of five this season, per Stathead.
The Cavaliers attempted 18 more shots and 20 more 3s. Phoenix took only three 3-pointers in the third quarter, another direct confirmation that this team (like last year) is quick to abandon the goals and objectives set forth by the coaching staff once adversity shows up. The watching experience for elements like this across the last year-plus has gone from frustrating to just plain awkward.
This was the type of performance for Beal that can’t happen. It was difficult to notice him on the floor. It doesn’t take a heavily-sourced report to interpret that he came back too early from his ankle sprain and is playing through limitations instead of just getting back to 100%. It’s either that or he lost interest without much of the ball. Both are bad.
Richards was unable to follow up on a stellar 21-point, 11-rebound debut, putting up four points and four rebounds in 22 minutes. Those inconsistences should be expected for him, especially as a midseason acquisition.
For Richards, the main thing to understand is he’s going to provide the immediate benefits of the attributes Phoenix lacks, while the rest of his game will be an in-progress experience for a guy who is playing on a team with contending aspirations for the first time in his career.
Richards, prone to turnovers, had a few goofs in this one. He got called for two moving screens, fumbled two passes in transition and was in the wrong spot on a sideline out-of-bounds call that resulted in a giveaway. When Cleveland went to a zone at the start of the second quarter, that was a look leaving space open in the middle of the floor where a playmaking big can punish it, which is not in Richards’ game. He later picked up his third foul midway through the period, which left Phoenix going small with Durant at the 5.
The biggest point of development for Richards the rest of the season will be scheme versatility on defense. For as much flack as Nurkic catches, he is decent in this area, showing an ability to play at the level of the screen or deeper and still recover. Richards is much more agile, so he’s got the speed for it, but it’s mostly about basketball IQ. Cleveland was living in floater territory and finding easy one-pass rotations for 3s off ball screens, something that will get Phoenix carved up in the postseason if it gets there because of how consistently poor it is at defending on the perimeter.
With Tristan Thompson as Cleveland’s backup center, the Suns hardly used another 5. Mason Plumlee only got four reserve minutes and Oso Ighodaro did not get a look until garbage time.
Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell posted 33 points, five assists and zero turnovers.
