The Phoenix Suns played the second night of a back-to-back on Sunday, hosting the Portland Trail Blazers, and the result was an abysmal performance. Phoenix scored just 77 points.
It is easy to understand why when you zoom out. Phoenix was without three of its four highest-paid players, and the absence showed from the opening tip.
What it felt like was the final five minutes of the Orlando game, followed by two overtimes, stretched across an entire night. There was no offensive rhythm, no flow, and no sense of continuity. The shooting issues that have lingered all February stayed right on schedule, and the game never found a pulse.
You can call it expected, even understandable. Still, with so much youth on the floor, you hope someone grabs the moment and makes it theirs. That never really happened. No one stepped forward, no one bent the game in their direction, and the opportunity passed without resistance.
The team shot 36.9% from the field, 25.7% from three, committed 23 turnovers, and didn’t score more than 20 points in any single quarter. Collin Gillespie scored 18 points to lead all Suns’ scorers, and 14 of those came in the fourth. Meanwhile, both Donovan Clingan and Jerami Grant had 23 points for the Blazers, with Clingan adding 12 rebounds.
The loss marked the fewest points scored by the Suns since October of 2017. Phoenix now finds themselves further away from the sixth seed as the loss drops them to 33-25.
Game Flow
First Half
Before a single point was scored, the night started going sideways. Portland All-Star Deni Avdija exited with back tightness. He was questionable on the report, gave it a go, but was unavailable once his back locked up. On the next trip down, Collin Gillespie got tangled up in a foul with Donovan Clingan, braced himself as he hit the floor, and appeared to tweak his right wrist. One possession later, Clingan looked to injure his left thumb.
Three sequences, three issues. The Mortgage Matchup Center, which I have lovingly renamed “The Morg”, kept doing what it has done all week: quietly claiming bodies before the game ever had a chance to breathe.
Both Clingan and Gillespie remained in the game.
It was a brutal offensive start for both teams. When the seven-minute mark rolled around, the scoreboard read 4-2 Suns, and it felt every bit as rough as it looked. Phoenix opened 2-of-13. Portland countered with 1-of-8.
The first real jolt came when Jalen Green ripped down the floor and finished a transition dunk, his first in a Suns uniform.
With the roster thinned out, the first look off the bench went to rookie Rasheer Fleming, with Jamaree Bouyea right behind him. The youth got real minutes, real responsibility, and a real chance to shape the night.
Bouyea paced Phoenix with 6 in the first quarter, while the Suns shot 34.8% from the field and 0-of-7 from deep. Portland lived in the same neighborhood, shooting 32% and finishing 2-of-14 from beyond the arc.
After one, it was an ugly 20-20 game.
The second quarter opened, and Khaman Maluach was on the floor.
And wouldn’t you know it? He hit his first three-pointer in his career, a corner ball, scoring the first three-pointer for the team at the same time.
The second quarter continued the same trend as the first quarter in that both teams were having a hard time scoring. Halfway through the quarter, the Suns had the edge 7–6 in scoring.
Portland was the first team to string together a real run, ripping off nine straight points by pushing the pace and attacking the interior. Phoenix responded by circling the perimeter, hesitant to challenge Clingan, and taking turns missing threes. Ryan Dunn struggled mightily through the stretch. On one possession, he grabbed an offensive rebound, retreated to the three-point line, and missed. The next trip down in transition, he pulled up and airballed another three.
Amir Coffey added some juice off the bench as the Suns were looking anywhere. He made three straight buckets, getting Phoenix to within 2. Portland responded, however, closing the quarter on a 5-0 run, extending their lead to 47-40 at the break.
The Suns were 2-of-19 from three-point range in the first half, with the rookies, Maluach and Fleming, accounting for those makes. The box score wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It was ugly. Royce O’Neale was 0-of-5 from the field. Ryan Dunn was 1-of-7. Jalen Green was 2-of-9. 24 of the Suns’ 40 points were scored by the bench, with Bouyea leading the Suns with 8 points.
The best shot of the night? A fan won $10,000 for hitting half court shot.
Second Half
The Suns opened the second half with a shot clock violation on their first possession. If you have a hand, feel free to place the palm of it directly on your face and leave it there for a moment.
Another 9-0 run by the Blazers pushed the lead to 15. The shooting fell apart, the defense followed, and the whole thing felt disjointed. Jalen Green was the lone steady presence. By the midpoint of the quarter, he had scored all 9 of the Suns points.
Soon Phoenix was down by 20 points. Short-handed or not, the team was struggling and failing the test. That test? Seize the moment. Take advantage of the opportunity before you.
Khaman Maluach looked good, for what it’s worth. He was playing with some give-a-shit.
The Suns shot a putrid 30.4% in the third quarter and were 1-of-8 from three. They were outrebounded 15-8. They scored just 17 points, and entered the fourth down 71-57.
The fourth quarter opened with the Suns finally knocking down a pair of threes, one from Rasheer Fleming in the corner and another from Collin Gillespie. Gillespie followed by drilling two more threes, trimming the deficit to 11 with 7:48 left and briefly giving the building something to lean into.
Things got a little spicy with five minutes left. Ryan Dunn and Donovan Clingan got into a mild shoving match that triggered a review for a hostile act. After a long look, it was ruled that nothing met the criteria. Still, it counted as the most visible life Dunn showed all night.
A moment later, Clingan missed two straight free throws. Somewhere, Chick-fil-A trays were being mentally claimed.
The game strolled on, and the sun had no offense outside of calling Gillespie in the final quarter. Eventually, the inevitable occurred as the Suns lost 92-77.
Up Next
The Suns welcome the surprising Boston Celtics to the Morg on Tuesday night. We shall see you then!