Twas the night of Christmas, when all through the Footprint not a fan was cheering. They sat stone-faced as Luka dropped 50 points with 15 assists in a 128-114 drubbing, as Phoenix melted down again in the 4th quarter.
Though there were signs of life in the third quarter and the Suns even took the lead, most of the night was very rough sledding. The Suns couldn’t seem to make a shot at the start and got down by 12 at the end of the first quarter. Luka was hitting everything and didn’t even need his teammates to chime in.
The Suns outscored the Mavs by 2 in the 2nd quarter as Chimezie Metu got going. He would end up starting the 2nd half. He made the most of his opportunity, finishing with 23 points and a career high 19 rebounds. Is he the answer at backup center? Starting power forward? We’ll see how he does going forward.
Metu also got this tongue lashing from Devin Booker. It’s safe to say that numerous Suns players are frustrated right now and were not feeling the Christmas cheer.
The third quarter was Grayson Allen’s moment. He scored 19 points en route to 32 points, tying his career high with 8 threes. He shot 17 threes and the Suns put up 41 as a team, a very nice change from the past few games where they were not shooting enough. But Suns players outside of Grayson were 6-24 from 3. Still, the Suns took a 1-pt lead into the 4th as Metu and Allen carried the torches.
But in the 4th quarter, it’s about the stars. As Luka kept hitting, outscoring the Big 2 by himself, Booker and Durant kept missing, and KD in particular kept turning the ball over. KD had 6 turnovers on the game while shooting only 11 shots, finishing with 16 points with 8 rebounds and 7 assists. It was a season-low scoring effort and the only time he’s scored under 25 since scoring 18 in the opening night win over the Warriors.
As for Booker, he finished with 20 points and 10 assists on only 6-14 shooting. While he’s putting up numbers lately, it’s not seeming to come easy and it’s not leading to wins. Many people think it’s because he’s having to play out of position and run the show at point guard instead of his natural SG position.
And so despite Allen and Metu having games of their lives, the Suns stars could not put it together, getting outscored by 15 in the 4th, a common refrain this season. Luka’s stellar performance in the Mavs win ruined Christmas for Suns fans, who are now wondering what can be done to save the Suns’ listless season.
And that’s really the bottom line right now. The Suns are a lifeless shell of the juggernaut they are supposed to be. They are now under .500 at 14-15, in 11th place. The first thing many owners do to try to turn things around is fire a coach. Is that fair when we’ve seen 24 minutes of the Big 3? Frank Vogel and Kevin Young both better hope that Beal rides in on a white horse soon and the Suns look much better. Otherwise, one or both may be gone well before the All-Star break in February.
