Suns Strokes: Suns finally catch a break in close game, beat Jazz
Apr 5, 2015, 6:07 AM | Updated: 8:03 pm
In a season where everything has seemed to go wrong for the Phoenix Suns in close games, they finally caught a break.
Down by two with 1.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Utah Jazz guard Rodney Hood let a 3-pointer fly — and missed. He was pressured heavily, but a potential foul call was not blown on P.J. Tucker, and the Suns came away with an 87-85 win at home Saturday night.
“No, no, no, no,” said Tucker when asked if he fouled Hood on the final defensive possession. “I seen where he was gonna pull up, I wanted to make him dribble. When I jumped he kicked his foot out. I knew they weren’t going to call a foul on that one, no way.”
The Suns were able to pull out the win in part because head coach Jeff Hornacek trusted a smaller lineup against Utah’s massive Rudy Gobert/Derrick Favors frontline. Until the last 17 seconds of the fourth quarter, Phoenix played without a traditional big man on the floor. During that stretch, the Suns outscored the Jazz 22-15.
Phoenix was able to hold Utah to 27 percent shooting from the field during that time, and only allowed the Jazz to grab two offensive rebounds despite Markieff Morris and Tucker playing center and power forward.
Tucker battled Gobert on the defensive glass, which led to the Suns getting the ball with 18 seconds left.
Eric Bledsoe then hit a free throw, and Hood’s missed shot sealed it.
THE GOOD
The Suns saw a flashback to 2013-14 from Gerald Green.
After a 13-point first quarter, the shooting guard brought life to their offense. He scored 10 of Phoenix’s 34 second quarter points in a 6:14 minute stint.
Green finished with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting and three hits from behind the arc in only 22 minutes of play.
It was the first time since Jan. 7 that Green managed to break the 20-point mark. Since the All-Star break, he has been struggling, scoring only 7.2 points per game on 37 percent shooting (26 percent from three).
THE BAD
Outside of their blazing-hot second quarter, the Suns scored 13, 18 and 22 points in the other three. They only made five 3-pointers and shot 43.5 percent from the field. It took a tremendous defensive effort against the Jazz to be able to grab the victory.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Suns are still mathematically alive for the playoffs at 39-38. They are 3.5 games back of the Thunder for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference and trail the ninth-place Pelicans by 2.5 games with five left to play.
HE SAID IT
“Every guy on the team should be that way, they’re getting paid millions of dollars. We expect all these guys to be ready. You never know when they’re going to get the spark. Especially against a big team where we’re not getting a lot of inside stuff to Markieff, it’s hard to post maybe a Marcus or a P.J., because those guys just come and help. We need the shooting, that’s what Gerald provided” – Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek
NOTED
In his fourth consecutive start, Brandan Wright posted 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and blocked four shots. Wright is averaging 16 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.3 blocks in these four games.
UP NEXT
The Suns set out on a rough four-game road trip beginning Tuesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks. Phoenix continues the trek at the Mavericks, Pelicans and Spurs. They lost to the Hawks 96-87 at US Airways Center on March 13th. Suns Warm Up starts at 4 p.m. followed by tip off at 4:30 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
