Phoenix — well, get what you want. But the Phoenix Suns’ 134-124 loss to the Adelaide 36ers of the National Basketball League (NBL) in their preseason opener on Sunday was an undeniable shock.
Phoenix trailed for most of the game, with about a 30-point advantage over most sportsbooks. Its biggest lead was 6 points, and it was the first time an NBA team lost to an NBL team. The Suns starting lineup only played 22 minutes for him, but the surprise of the result cannot be shaken off.
“They didn’t get the respect they deserve as a professional team,” said Suns head coach Monty Williams. “It’s a great opportunity for us to learn.”
Adelaide spent the first half looking like the 14th seed in the NCAA Tournament and began to show that it poses a serious threat to opponents with the amount of “we take it” shotmaking it performed. The 36ers knocked down a few of his 3-shots that came off the dribble, but also got a few free-shots around the rim and free-throw line thanks to Phoenix’s sub-optimal defensive rotation. .
On top of that, the Suns’ first 18 minutes of offense were lackluster, and they actually had a 16-point deficit midway through the second quarter.
Phoenix cut it to six at one point before Adelaide extended their lead to a dozen at halftime.
“I just thought they played hard,” Williams said. “When you look at the shotmaking you might think ‘that was the game’ but I thought they played very hard. They played like this was the game of their life. I thought, and they played the game of their life…Australian players are tough, and they played physical basketball, they played in 0.5, they were attackers, a lot of In case they beat us with dribbling.
“They dribbled off the three and shot tough at the basket. They were aggressive all night. They got the win. It wasn’t what we gave them. They It’s their credit because they took it.”
As you can imagine, the Suns starter came out in the second half and tried to get off the floor with the lead to give the reserves. He didn’t get that far in the opening lineup for Phoenix, but he had 4:29 going into the 3rd quarter and he was out on a 3rd down night.
Adelaide was unfazed by the pushback and quickly redeployed its mojo against the Suns’ second unit. After being trailed by 10, Phoenix had to fight back awkwardly in the fourth quarter where he doubled in length.
With 5:51 remaining, they finally returned to a one-possession game for the first time in the fourth quarter.
The 36ers’ three-ball magic continued, finishing the night with an astonishing 24-43 (55.8%). Guard Craig Randall II was treating Sunday night as if he had the green light for Stephen Curry. At one point, he scored his 3 on his 2-1 fastbreak opportunity, and for good reason, scoring his 35 points, a game-high.
Randall’s nine 3-pointers equaled the Suns’ total as a team. 36ers guard Robert Franks also had six shots and 18 shots in his attempts, which gave him 32 points.
Suns center DeAndre Ayton was asked if this was a loss for the Suns to take a lot of inventory, or if it would be a quick flash and move on.
“Preseason,” Ayton said. “At the end of the day, we’re still learning. It’s hard to accept, but at the same time we’re just back and trying to hone some things to better ourselves.
Wing Mikal Bridges says it’s better to do this now than seven months later.
“It wasn’t our standard. We’re going to watch the movie and get better,” he said. “But I’m glad it’s all this–so it’s October. Don’t mess with May and June, not later. We’ve got to learn from it and get used to it.”
Williams employed a hockey-style line shift to better mesh the entire unit. Given the depth shortcomings at the moment, it’s highly doubtful that we’ll see any of the full bench units this season.
With neither Paul nor Booker in the lineup, the reserves lack ball-handling, scoring and shooting in the other three positions, leaving them life-or-death on offense by Camp Payne and Landry Shamet. Sunday provided a preview of the lack of aggressive creation these units exist.
When it became apparent that the offense would continue to stagnate, Payne attempted to lead the comeback, contributing 23 points while shooting 8/19 overall.
Panier, Damion Lee and Tory Craig finished -21.
Williams notably inserted newly arrived Jock Lundale as backup five to Dario Surik and Bismack Biyombo.
The Aussie Randale has what most players have when it comes to physicality around the basket, giving his opponents trouble. He’s a smart passer, and Randale, who shot from the deep last year in San Antonio as a rookie, only had him 32.9 percent, but has great-looking strokes. Sands is excited to see what the 26-year-old will look like in workouts and camps, but Williams himself says he wants to temper his expectations in early October.
Surik did not play. Williams said they expect Sarich to play in the preseason, but they want to see Randale in the second unit.
As far as takeouts elsewhere go, the mission statement was perfectly demonstrated that Chris Paul wasn’t on the ball too much. He was taking his own defensive rebounds on the court to start possession.
Bridges and Cam Johnson were appropriately offensive off the dribble. Bridges, in particular, had his way in the first half as he scored 19 of 22 points.
So did Ayton, who slipped on screen more often. That meant he was jumping to the rim earlier to get a head start on rotation defense instead of holding tight to wait for screen contact.
Watch as the bridge moves the ball screen and Ayton rolls quickly.
Bridges: “Look, Chris.”
Paul: “No, no. It’s your turn, young Buck.”
Bridge is Ayton and pick and roll. bucket. pic.twitter.com/s75uAQ4FC5
— Matt Petersen (@TheMattPetersen) October 3, 2022
It was great, as was Ayton’s insistence on using the dribble in the post. Phoenix has given him many isolating touches against his small 36ers team.
The foul-stopped dribble is the type of contact dribble that has always contributed to Ayton’s success.
Ayton has not defaulted to tonight’s attack mode. Almost everything towards the basket. pic.twitter.com/DmD3a6iKBL
— Matt Petersen (@TheMattPetersen) October 3, 2022
Ayton had 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting in 22 minutes.
All starters were +11.
