The Phoenix Suns beat the New York Knicks 112-107, adding another hard-fought, chaotic win to their resume this season. This game had it all…elite shot-making from Dillon Brooks and Devin Booker, as well
as Jalen Brunson and Miles McBride.
The Suns’ franchise player scored 31 on 10-of-23 shooting, including 4-of-6 from the 3-point line, to continue his incredible January play. Brooks continued his superb offensive shot-making with 27 points on 8-of-15 from the field. Many of his shots were incredible step-back threes that defied logic. Brunson went on multiple heaters during the game and finished with 27 points, and McBride added 17 to lead the Knicks.
But as good as the stars were, it was the Suns’ role players that won this game for the Suns.
Royce O’Neale was 4-of-6 from the 3-point line and hit the biggest shot of the game to put the Suns up 106-101. Grayson Allen and Oso Ighodaro both struggled at times during the game, but Jordan Ott trusted them to finish out the game anyway. Ighodaro’s switchability on defense thwarted the Knicks’ ability to create consistent offense in the fourth quarter, and Allen’s intensity and defense won the Suns the game.
The Suns scored 12 points in the first 11:30 of the fourth quarter but still won this game. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around, that a team could do that and still win in the NBA, but the Suns just continue to find ways to win despite not being an otherworldly offensive team.
Allen and the Suns simply wanted the game more in the final two minutes of a 101-101 ball game. The Suns out-executed and outcompeted a New York Knicks team that has now lost five of its last six games in the final moments of the game. Whereas the Suns are the winners of eight of their last 10, and have one more game at home before an East Coast road trip coming up.
Game Flow
First Half
The Suns got off to a quick start, connecting on three of their first five 3-point attempts. Dillon Brooks set the tone early with two 3-point makes and two assists. One assist was to Mark Williams, who made his presence felt early with two agile finishes at the basket over smaller defenders. The Suns led 15-8 after the first media timeout.
The Suns’ spurt continued out of the timeout as Jordan Goodwin came into the game and made his presence felt immediately. He scored a quick dunk on a backdoor cut, then two possessions later, stole a rebound straight from Mitchell Robinson’s hands, and converted the three-point-play at the free throw line to make the Suns lead 25-14. Unfortunately for the Suns, Goodwin’s quick start didn’t continue. After missing a 3-point shot, Goodwin rebounded his own miss and missed a wide-open layup, and missed three more 3-point attempts in the quarter.
The second quarter was exactly the Knicks’ style of quarter, a lot of points. The Knicks knocked down 6-of-12 3-point field goals and scored 37 points in the quarter. Jordan Clarkson came in off the bench and scored a quick 12 points, and Jalen Brunson picked up where Clarkson left off and continued the offensive barrage. He finished the half with 13 points. Oso Ighodaro led the Suns’ bench unit with nice passes to Dunn and Rasheer Fleming for wide-open finishes at the rim. Dunn also confidently knocked down a wide-open 3-point shot, a good sign for the young second-year player.
Unable to get stops, the Suns withstood the Knicks’ offensive surge through the absurd shot-making from Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks. Each connected on incredible high-arcing pull-up 3-point shots over Robinson. Both continuously attacked mismatches against the Knicks’ little guards throughout the quarter as well, drawing fouls on Brunson, Clarkson, McBride, and Tyler Kolek. Brooks finished his incredible first half with 20 points on 6-of-10 from the field.
Booker did it all offensively, hitting difficult pull-up jumper after difficult pull-up jumper, and found Williams for a thunderous dunk as well. Booker scored 12 points in the second quarter to give the Suns a slight edge, 62-60 at halftime.
Second Half
The third quarter was an even higher form of shot-making from both teams. Neither team could miss. Brunson hit every shot off the dribble, including multiple stepback 3-point bombs. Karl-Anthony Towns was much more aggressive in looking for his shot. The Suns were just as lethal shooting the basketball as O’Neale, Brooks, and Gillespie each knocked in an early 3-point shot to keep pace with Towns and Brunson. Then Booker threw down this ridiculous jam.
Down 80-78, the Suns started their run to gain control of the game. ‘Rolls-Royce’ O’Neale knocked down back-to-back long-range triples, created by the attention the Knicks were giving Booker. Then Booker took over. The Suns finally started getting stops on the defensive end of the floor, forcing tough shots and turnovers from the Knicks. Booker capitalized by knocking down two 3-point field goals and finding Goodwin mid jumpshot for an open layup as four Knicks players converged on his midrange pull-up. The Suns went on a 14-0 run to lead 92-80, taking the game by the horns.
The Knicks woke up and finished the quarter with a mini 6-2 spurt to seize some momentum back, down 94-86 after three.
As high scoring as the middle quarters were in this game, the fourth quarter was the opposite. The Knicks decided to go with their double big lineup early in the period. Towns and Robinson dominated the offensive glass, with Robinson grabbing six offensive boards in the fourth quarter. The Suns played good defense, forced misses, but could not secure the rebounds, and they could not find any rhythm on offense.
The Suns led 96-89 with 8:00 minutes left to play when Anunoby got hot. He hit two 3-point shots when no other Knicks player could buy a basket. Booker cooled off in the fourth quarter, got to switch-hunting, and missed multiple midrange pull-ups. Back-to-back putbacks by Robinson and two made free throws from Anunoby had this game tied 101-101 with 2:41 left to play. Despite Robinson’s dominance on the glass, Ott decided to keep Williams on the bench in favor of Oso Ighodaro for his perimeter defense and playmaking.
The Suns again were going to have to be the better team in the clutch, something they have done time and time again this season. Booker finally got the lid off the basket with two minutes left as he hit a step-back 16-foot jump shot as the shot clock expired. On the defensive end, Allen made the first of two incredible defense plays in the final stretch of the game by stripping Brunson on a drive to the basket, which he lost out of bounds.
On the ensuing possession, the Knicks kept two bodies on Booker, who eventually found O’Neale, who pass-faked to the corner and knocked down the biggest shot of the game. Suns led 106-101 until McBride hit a tough fadeaway jumper in the corner to get it back to a one-possession game with 54.2 seconds left to play. Then the Knicks smartly fouled 49% free-throw shooter Ighodaro, who missed both free throws. However, he redeemed himself on the defensive end by switching out onto Brunson, forcing him to jump into the air and throw a wild pass to Mikal Bridges. On the pass, Allen heroically tipped the pass into the backcourt and then sprinted past Bridges towards the ball and saved it off Bridges, who was standing out of bounds.
Suns ball.
Allen was 2-of-10 from the field and struggled to find any offensive rhythm all game, but made two huge defensive plays, which is why Ott left him in the game. Allen closed the game out, going 4-of-4 from the free throw line to close the game out and the Suns improved to 23-15 on the season.
Up Next
The Suns play the Washington Wizards at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday at 6pm Arizona time.
