Suns Strokes: Phoenix loses another close one as Bucks pull off comeback
Dec 16, 2014, 7:18 AM | Updated: 7:19 am
To quote the great philosopher — and New York Yankees Hall of Famer — Yogi Berra, “It’s like deja vu all over again.”
First, it was Blake Griffin.
Now, it’s Khris Middleton.
Down one with 3.5 seconds to play, Middleton took a Jared Dudley handoff just to the left of the top of the key and banked in a buzzer-beating three to give the Milwaukee Bucks a 96-94 victory and hand the Phoenix Suns a sixth straight defeat, their longest losing streak in two seasons.
“Thank goodness it went in,” said Middleton, whose shot came exactly one week to the day after Griffin’s heroics led the Clippers to a 121-120 overtime win in Los Angeles. “It was lucky it was just off the glass. It felt good.”
The Suns seemed to have the game in hand, holding a 10-point lead with 8:03 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the offense went cold and the defense got sloppy.
“Just careless. We’ve got to value the ball more,” head coach Jeff Hornacek said after his team committed 23 turnovers, tying a season-high, including seven in the fourth quarter and three in three consecutive possessions following the double-digit advantage.
Markieff Morris scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Suns. Twice he hit go-ahead baskets in the game’s final 24 seconds: a two-foot layup with 23.9 left to put the Suns up 92-91 and a 14-foot jumper with 3.9 left to put the Suns up 94-93, their last lead of the game.
“Some years, the breaks aren’t going your way. Obviously, so far this year, they haven’t,” Hornacek said. “Yeah, a ball went off the backboard, went in. We played pretty good defense, but we’ve got to be able to maybe stay in front of the guys and make them shoot over.”
The Suns dropped to 12-14 and 6-7 at home.
THE GOOD
Prior to tipoff, the Suns announced a new tradition of “Stand Until We Score,” which flashed across the arena video boards. Fans stood for all of 16 seconds as Morris knocked down a 6-foot hook shot for the first points of the game.
Morris scored the Suns’ first seven points, adding a 14-foot jump shot and 4-foot bank shot, part of a three-point play. He finished the quarter with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and four rebounds in 11 minutes — one more minute than he played the night before because of foul trouble in Oklahoma City.
Take away Gerald Green’s 0-of-9 from three and the Suns shot 7-of-12 from long range in the first half. Morris and P.J. Tucker each hit a pair, and it was Tucker’s three that halted a 7-0 Bucks run that pulled Milwaukee to within five, 30-25, at 8:05 of the second quarter.
Green finally hit a three at 6:58 of the third quarter, ending a string of 11 straight misses. He hit his second with 41.9 seconds remaining to give the Suns a 90-88 advantage. Though he shot only 3-of-18, including 2-of-15 from downtown, Green grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with three assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Isaiah Thomas scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. All 11 points came in a 1:38 stretch in which he hit three threes and a layup to put the Suns up 83-73 with 8:03 to play. However, the Suns would then go cold for more than seven minutes without a field goal.
THE BAD
Milwaukee tied a Suns’ opponent season-low with 14 first quarter points. The Bucks missed 11 of their 16 shot attempts while turning the ball over seven times. Their first made field goal came at the 7:34 mark, after five misfires and three turnovers.
After a 1-of-10 start, Milwaukee shot 14-of-22 (.636) and hit 11-of-13 free throws, yet still found themselves down nine at the half, 53-44. Brandon Knight scored all 12 of his first-half points in the second quarter when the Bucks outscored the Suns 30-27, thanks to 62.5 percent shooting (10-of-16).
Milwaukee beat the Suns in the paint (26-12) and on the break (12-4) in the first half, but could not overcome its 12 turnovers that were converted into 11 Suns’ points.
Milwaukee lost rookie forward Jabari Parker to a sprained left knee. The injury occurred 68 seconds into the third quarter when he and Tucker collided as Parker drove into the lane. A double foul was called, but it was Parker who had to be carried off the floor by his teammates.
Down 10 with 8:03 to play, Milwaukee went on a 9-0 run which turned into a 13-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 86-85 with 3:23 to play. Zaza Pachulia scored the final six points of the 13-2 run, including the bucket that gave the Bucks their first lead.
STAT OF THE GAME
9: The number of lead changes in the game, with six coming in the final minute of play
HE SAID IT
“They just played harder than us,” Suns guard Eric Bledsoe said. “We were pretty much ahead the whole game until the end, and we kind of just traded baskets. You can’t let a team like that hang around. They were playing terrific and they out-hustled us. It was the better team that got the win.”
NOTED
– The entire Suns team wore black “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts during pregame warmups in support of Eric Garner, a New York man who died after being detained by police in a chokehold.
– Goran Dragic missed his second straight game because of a low back strain, while Alex Len made his first start of the season and the fourth of his career, totaling six points and six rebounds before fouling out in 19 minutes played.
– Center Earl Barron, who spent training camp and the preseason with the Suns, was named the NBA Development League Performer of the Week, averaging 31.9 points on 57.1 percent shooting and 12 rebounds over three games for the Bakersfield Jam, the Suns’ D-League affiliate.
UP NEXT
The Suns play their next three games on the road. The trip begins in Charlotte for a matchup against the Hornets on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
Charlotte won the first meeting this season, beating the Suns 103-95 in Phoenix on Nov. 14. Kemba Walker scored 19. Bledsoe had a double-double, leading the Suns with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Despite the loss, the Suns have won five of the last six against the Hornets.
