After beating San Antonio on Sunday night, the Suns walked into a tough assignment. They had to face one of the better teams in the NBA on short rest. The end result? A 114-92 loss. It is the first time
this season the Suns have failed to reach the 100-point mark.
This team can fight. We know that. But with a thin bench on the second night of a back-to-back, it felt like the well-rested Rockets were always in position to control the night. Credit to Phoenix though. They kept their edge. They stayed aggressive. They brought that dog mentality from start to finish. The game was physical, and both sides took their swings. Talent won out in the end.
The Suns struggled to take care of the ball, and the Rockets cashed in. Too many mistakes, too many live-ball giveaways, and too many easy buckets going the other way. You can’t hand opportunities like that to a quality team. Phoenix finished with 20 turnovers that turned into 26 Houston points. They also had only 11 assists on 33 made shots.
Aaron Holiday, who spent 22 games with the Suns in 2022, tied his career high by knocking down 6 three three-pointers. Amen Thompson poured in 28. Dillon Brooks led Phoenix with 29, and Devin Booker was held to 5-of-13 from the field for 18 points. With Houston locking in on him, everything he tried came with resistance. It has been a tough stretch for him as stronger opponents keep finding ways to push him out of rhythm.
The Suns drop to 11-7 on the season.
Game Flow
First Half
Houston enters as one of the top teams in the NBA when it comes to first quarter scoring, averaging 31.2 points per game. Injuries or not, the Suns need to survive that early burst of Houston offense. We all know this team can stall at times. We saw it last night against San Antonio. Through the first six minutes though, the energy was high and Phoenix hung in, trailing 15-12.
Dillon Brooks came out fired up against his old team. No surprise there. He picked up his second foul early. He stayed out there for a couple more minutes, but he opened the game 1-of-6 from the field.
Devin Booker, who has struggled from beyond the arc lately, however, opened the night by hitting his first two. He scored nine of the Suns first 20 points.
And the player pushing the pace for Houston was Josh Okogie, of course.
The former Sun scored 6 early points as he went straight at the rim and kept pressure on Phoenix. Another former Sun did the real damage in the final minute though. Aaron Holiday scored 9 in the quarter, and he knocked down two big three-pointers in the final minute that pushed the Rockets’ lead to seven.
After one, Houston led 30 to 27.
The stretch between quarters turned into a 9-0 run for Houston, and the Rockets suddenly held a 10-point lead.
The Suns were already thin, and that meant Rasheer Fleming checked in. He played his first meaningful NBA minutes last week against Portland, then tweaked his ankle and missed the next two. He was back on the floor tonight.
Soon after, Rasheer Fleming got a real “welcome to the NBA moment”. He tried to stay in front of Jabari Smith Jr, and it was probably the first time in his career he had to guard someone that big and that quick. Smith turned the corner with ease, and Fleming ended up fouling him for the and one.
It was a rough quarter for Nick Richards. He committed an offensive foul on a play where Royce O’Neale hit a three. Houston answered with a three of their own, and that turned into a six-point swing. He missed a bounce pass from Jordan Goodwin under the basket as it rolled out of bounds. He tried to fire a ball in transition to Collin Gillespie. The problem was he threw it about eight feet too far, and it sailed out of bounds. Then he got completely posterized.
Following the poster dunk on Richards, he headed to the bench, and Dillon Brooks checked back in for Phoenix. Brooks went on his own 7-0 run and cut the deficit to four.
Lazy passes and sloppy decisions started to hurt the Suns. Live-ball turnovers turned into easy points for Houston, who answered with an 8-0 run. Phoenix finished the half with 11 turnovers that led to 18 Rocket points. On the other side, the Suns turned 5 Houston turnovers into 7 points.
Phoenix answered with an 8-0 run and got the game back to four. Houston immediately countered with a quick 5-0 burst and took a 59-50 lead into the half. Brooks and Collin Gillespie each scored 13. Houston had three players in double figures with Amen Thompson at 13, Aaron Holiday at 12, and Alperen Sengun at 10. The Suns won the rebounding battle 24-18, but the turnovers wiped out that edge.
Second Half
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The second half opened with both teams knocking down shots, but things shifted when Devin Booker was hit with a flagrant on an and-one by Amen Thompson. Thompson finished the play, made one of the two free throws, and Houston kept the ball. Sengun scored on the extra possession. Phoenix went from trailing 62-55 to trailing 67-55 in a single sequence.
Dillon Brooks picked up his fourth foul on a light whistle, and Houston opened the third by outscoring Phoenix 15-9. The Rockets pushed the lead to 15. They looked sharper on both ends, and with Phoenix coughing the ball up and giving up second-chance points, the gap made sense. The Suns started to look tired.
Brooks stayed on the floor and kept carrying the offense. He scored 9 of the Suns’ 16 points in the quarter before picking up his fifth foul with four minutes left. Phoenix trailed by 10.
To their credit, the Suns kept swinging. A 10- run pulled them within 7. After two free throws from Devin Booker, who reached 13 points, the Houston lead was down to 5.
But two live-ball turnovers opened the door for Houston, and the Suns slipped back down by 11.
After three, Houston led 84-75.
An 8-3 run from Houston, powered by the explosiveness of Amen Thompson, pushed the lead back to 14. Phoenix didn’t fold. They kept trying to trade punches with the Rockets as the quarter wore on. The physicality picked up, and on a fast break where Jordan Goodwin dropped the ball off to Nick Richards, Thompson went for a hard foul. He ended up taking the worst of it.
Houston challenged the play, but the call stood. In true Richards fashion, he missed both free throws. On the next trip, Sengun hammered Gillespie for another hard foul. A moment later, Brooks took another shot to the chin, this time from Jabari Smith Jr. Things were getting chippy.
Through all the bumps and whistles, Houston started to pull away as Phoenix stopped knocking down shots. With three minutes left and the deficit at 20, the Suns emptied the bench. When Jeff Green checks in, you know the night is cooked.
Up Next
Next up for Phoenix? A trip up to the California state capitol as they take on the Sacramento Kings for the second time this season. Their first meeting? Opening night, when the Suns rallied from being down 20 points to win 120-116.
We’ll see you then, Bright Side
