Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) rides between Dwayne Bacon (8) and center Nikola Vucevic (9) between the Orlando Magic during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Sunday, February 14, 2021 in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Rick Scuteri)
Is that how it is on the other side of it?
The Phoenix Suns’ 109-90 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday was elementary, with the Suns having to move to the second or third ride for only a few pieces during a fairly easy ride.
This was mainly because the Magic only had eight available players. Their star Nikola Vucevic was in, but in addition, it was only Michael Carter-Williams and Terrence Ross who were reliable rotation players.
The terrible start for Orlando certainly did not help anything.
The Magic (10-18) made only one of his first 13 shots. A handful of them were decent, but they just looked like a team that was already mentally out of it, and waving defensive joints, and a Steve Clifford team would not dare.
Meanwhile, the Suns’ Devin Booker scored 17 points in the first quarter.
At the end of the first quarter it was Booker 17, Magic 16.
There is a certain urgency that a professional sports team needs to win. We have all seen what it looks like when it is missing.
Nor is it as if the Suns were 100%, but it was enough to do the job and sail.
There was an 8-0 Magic run in the second quarter to reduce Phoenix’s lead to 15. But after a timeout by head coach Monty Williams, the Suns’ advantage never really lost stability from there.
At halftime, the Magic had four points in the paint and no quick points.
Phoenix (17-9) maintained the lead above 15 throughout. Booker finished with 27 points, Mikal Bridges added 21 and Chris Paul had 12 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Orlando shot 37.1% of the field.
While there would not be much doubt about the Suns taking care of the business Sunday, there was some panic among the fans because of the team’s losses. These include a defeat in Washington, a non-home game against Oklahoma City and a rough performance in Detroit.
Sunday had 9-6 against teams under 0.500 and 7-3 against the rest on Sunday. They had 79 minutes of heads, most in the NBA, and another decisive win or two that was not yet on the record was slightly abnormal given their success. This is neither worrying nor a complaint about a team that has now won nine of its last ten matches. Just a fact about the way they are progressing this season.
Not every win can be like Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers, the win of the season so far.
Winning like they did against the Magic is something big teams do, and Suns fans now need to know with how much it’s done in Phoenix over the past few years. On the second game of a back-to-back, the performance was nice to watch.
“More than anything, we did what we had to do to win the game,” Williams said. ‘We had some emotional games in this building. And to win like we won the last few games – we did not even want to talk about a disappointment, because we are not the kind of team that can look to anyone other than to (respect) them.
“It is great for us to come in and handle our affairs.”