The Suns welcomed Devin Booker and Jalen Green back on Saturday night, but the return came with a thud. The shooting never showed up. Phoenix finished 11-of-46 from beyond the arc, good for 23.9%, and that hole proved too deep to fully climb out of, losing 109-103. To their credit, they kept pushing. The Suns made a late run and trimmed it to a four point game with under a minute to play after trailing by as many as 19. The effort was there. The shot making was not.
Nights like this leave a messy
box score. Collin Gillespie went 2-of-10 from deep. Dillon Brooks matched that. In his first game back, Booker looked rusty, finishing 1-of-7 from three. The rhythm never fully arrived.
On the other end, Joel Embiid dictated everything. He poured in 33 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and even stepped out to go 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. There was no slowing him down.
The loss makes it two straight for Phoenix. They remain planted in seventh in the Western Conference, even with teams above them dropping games. The record now sits at 1-3 in February and 0-3 at home this month. Getting bodies back helps. Making shots still matters more.
Game Flow
First Half
It was a cold start for Devin Booker in his return. He missed his first three shots, all from beyond the arc. His first points in two weeks came at the free throw line, as Jalen Green checked in with 6:29 left in the first. Booker went 1-of-2, and the Suns found themselves down 14-10.
Joel Embiid, a game-time decision himself, came out firing. He knocked down a pair of early threes, which stood out considering he is a 30% shooter from deep this season.
Collin Gillespie opened the Suns’ scoring with a three. After that, it was rough. Phoenix missed its next 12 attempts from beyond the arc and finished the quarter 1-of-13 from three. Still, Green’s entry with the second unit brought life. He looked healthy. He looked aggressive. He led the team with six points in the quarter and gave the offense some needed juice.
Philadelphia struggled too. The 76ers shot 8-of-23 in the quarter, with five of those makes coming from three. So despite the Suns’ shooting woes, they stayed within striking distance and trailed only 24-22 after one.
The second unit of Gillespie, Goodwin, Bouyea, Dunn, and Ighodaro opened the second quarter by giving up a 9-4 run. Missed shots piled up. Turnovers followed. And Philadelphia cashed those mistakes into easy points at the rim.
The deficit quickly stretched to 14 as the Suns continued to come up empty on every three-pointer they took. Long misses turned into long rebounds. Long rebounds turned into transition chances. Same sequence. Over and over.
The brutal three point shooting clearly got into Phoenix’s head. You could see it. Open looks were there, and instead of letting it fly, they hesitated. Pump fakes. Extra dribbles. Possessions stretched longer than they needed to. And the shots that followed were worse than the ones they passed up.
With 5:19 left in the second quarter, and down 16, Dillon Brooks hit the Suns second made three-pointer of the game, making the deficit 44–31. So Phoenix started 1-of-19 (5.2%) from deep to start the game.
The patented Embiid-foul baiting then began as he generated contact on everyone who defended him and hit the whistle every time. Turned his body into Brooks? Foul. Jumped into Devin Booker? Foul. Embiid ended the half with 17 points, going 3-of-5 from deep and 6-of-8 from the line. His 8 free throw attempts in the second was 6 more than Phoenix attempted.
The Suns ended the half having made just 4 of their 25 three-point attempts, and that was primarily the story. Both teams had 20 points in the paint, and although the rebounding edge favored Philly 29-21, both teams had 7 second-chance points. The 76ers were +9 in points generated from deep and +2 at the line. And that’s what the Suns trailed by at the half. 11 points, 58-47.
Second Half
So how did the Suns respond coming out of halftime. Not well. They immediately surrendered an 8-0 run and the deficit jumped to 19. Joel Embiid stayed in control, scoring 7 quick points as the team was running everything through him.
Midway through the third, Phoenix finally found a pulse. They ripped off a 10-2 run, leaning into their usual aggressive style. Pressure picked up. Bodies flew around. The game started to feel uncomfortable again.
Things got chippy fast. Dillon Brooks took the Joel Embiid assignment despite already sitting on three fouls, and he did not back down. The physicality escalated. Former Sun Kelly Oubre Jr. got involved as well, jawing with Brooks as the temperature of the game rose.
You do not see this often, but the defensive pressure from Phoenix forced a pair of over and back violations in the third. That intensity showed up in other areas too. The Suns did a solid job crashing the glass and creating extra chances. The problem was finishing them.
In the third quarter, Phoenix grabbed five offensive rebounds and turned those into two second chance points. The effort was there. The payoff was not.
By the end of the quarter, the Suns had outscored Philadelphia 24-23. The defensive edge had clearly ramped up. Still, the shooting lagged behind. They went 2-of-10 from deep in the frame, and that continued to weigh everything down.
After three, Phoenix trailed 81-71.
Philly popped another run to start the fourth because, surprise surprise, the Suns shooting was nowhere to be found. Even with Embiid getting a rest, the 76ers expanded their lead as the Suns were chucking bricks.
Once again, however, midway through the quarter, the Suns put together a run to get it to a 9-point deficit. But the moment they did that, Embiid banked in a timely three-pointer.
Down 12, Royce O’Neale was whistled for an and one that Jordan Ott immediately challenged. He won it. Instead of the deficit growing with a free throw coming, the Suns stayed down 10. A small win. A needed one.
And then, almost on cue, Philadelphia buried a three on an inbounds play with one second left on the shot clock. But after review, it was determined Watford didn’t get it off in time.
With 1:31, the Suns got it down to a 6 point game, and after a missed shot by Embiid, Devin Booker was sent to the line with 1:04 left. He knocked them both down, and the Suns trailed by 4.
Tyrese Maxey hit a dagger three in the face of Oso, but Booker was fouled on a three-pointer headed the other way with 41 seconds left. He canned those as well.
The Suns had an impressive defensive possession the next time down, but with 0.7 seconds left in the shot clock, Devin Booker fouled Tyrese Maxey on a three. Maxey hit them all. Booker was quickly fouled by Oubre on another three, and Booker hit all of those. So once again, a 4 point game. A Gillespie foul, two made free throws by Maxey, a turnover on the in bounds pass and it was over.
Up Next
Phoenix hosts the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, before hosting the Thunder the next night (seriously, what is up with the level of opponent the Suns have to face on the second night of back-to-backs this season?!), which is their final game prior to the All-Star break.
