On a rainy October night in Downtown Phoenix, the Suns locked in and played one of their most complete games of the preseason.
The Suns are now 1-2 and have two more preseason games left on the schedule before their season opener on October 21st. Phoenix was without Devin Booker and Miles Bridges in this one.
Luke Kennard led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-10 shooting from deep. He also chipped in with 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 25 minutes. Jalen Green scored 18 points,
and Dillon Brooks added 15. Overall, it was another strong showing from the starting unit, even if it was a different starting five this time.
Khaman Maluach got his first start of the preseason, and certainly took advantage of it. He finished with 10 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal on 4-for-9 shooting in 23 minutes. Man Man finished plus-14.
Game Flow
First Half
The Suns decided to start Luke Kennard and Ryan Dunn in place of Devin Booker and Miles Bridges. The original plan was for guys not to play in all 5 games, so this was the game off for those two, per Jordan Ott.
Khaman Maluach also drew his first start of the preseason with the Suns going up against Wembanyama’s length. He pulled in 10 boards in his first 11 minutes of action, making the most of his time on the glass.
Jalen Green was aggressive early, hunting for his shot and making plays for others. He has looked really encouraging off the bounce this preseason.
The Suns jumped out to a 22-11 start, led by blistering shooting from Jalen Green, Luke Kennard, Jordan Goodwin, and Dillon Brooks.
Suns started 6-of-8 from three on their opening eight attempts. Jalen Green led the way with a dozen points in the opening quarter.
Luke Kennard let it fly early and often, and showed that he is indeed far more than just a shooter. He was drilling threes, but also attacking closeouts, getting to his spots and cutting without the ball.
Phoenix led after the opening quarter, 35-25. The Suns were actually getting “out-tempoed” in fastbreak points, with the Spurs scoring 15 compared to their 4 in fastbreak points. But it did not feel like it, because they were scoring off turnovers and generating plenty of second-chance points.
The Suns led by as many as 15, but the Spurs fought back to close out the half and trim it to single digits.
Phoenix entered the half leading 58-51. Jalen Green led all scorers with 16 points, and Dylan Harper led the Spurs with 13.
Luke Kennard certainly took the “shoot it more” to heart in this one, as he aggressively looked to get his shot both off the dribble
Second Half
Wembanyama did not start the second half initially, but checked in one minute and four seconds into the quarter.
Maluach had a nice offensive board over Wemby and a put-back two. The very next possession, after he ripped down his 12th rebound of the game, he finished at the rim, going right at Wemby… again! Then he drained a three.
It was the Khaman Maluach show to open the third. The Suns outscored the Spurs by five in the 3rd quarter to extend their lead to 12 points.
Brooks and Green each went for about 9 minutes of action before heading to the bench for the remainder of the game, handing the rest to the bench crew.
After three, Phoenix led 85-73.
In the fourth quarter, there was a whole lot of Jamaree Bouyea, Haywood Highsmith, and Rasheer Fleming. We even got a Koby Brea and Koa Peat sighting!
Then it got to the sloppy “garbage time” part of preseason, even by preseason standards. The Suns held on despite a late-game run from the Spurs to cut the lead down to four with 12 seconds left.
Up Next
Phoenix will travel to San Antonio to face this same Spurs squad for Game 4 of the preseason on Wednesday. We shall see you all then!
