5 takeaways from Suns' Game 2 loss with Devin Booker sidelined with hamstring injury
Suns coach Monty Williams offered perspective after Tuesday’s 125-114 upset loss to New Orleans in Game 2 that likely will fall upon deaf ears to the prisoner of the moment.
“All of these games are so important, but no matter how you slice it, it is one-to-one,” he said. “I’ll whine and feel bad about it tonight, but we’re one-to-one and it’s a long series. We get to go to their place and do what we do.”
A lot can happen in one game, though.
A player can score an unconscious 31 points in the first half, hitting 7-of-11 from 3.
A team can allow 67.5% shooting in the second half, giving up 8-of-11 from 3.
A team can have its best player helplessly watch the fourth quarter with an injury.
Devin Booker and the Suns experienced all those things before a stunned sellout crowd that began exiting Footprint Center late, realizing this won’t be “Suns in 4! Suns in 4!”
This now is a series that’s even more interesting, with Booker experiencing right hamstring tightness after a 31-point masterpiece as the Suns head to New Orleans tied 1-1. The Suns issued a statement Wednesday that an MRI revealed Booker sustained a mild right hamstring strain and there's no timetable set for his return.
"Updates will be provided as appropriate," the statement concluded.
Game 3 of this best-of-7 first round Friday at Smoothie King Center. Game 4 is Sunday in the Crescent City before the series returns to Phoenix for Game 5 next week.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Playoff rewind: Phoenix Suns-New Orleans Pelicans Game 2 highlights
1. Never been a great lip reader, but pretty good at interpreting body language.
While it appears as if Jae Crowder asked Booker twice during a timeout if he pulled his right hamstring, what’s clearer is Crowder’s reaction to whatever Booker said.
Booker nodded his head the first time Crowder said something to him.
Then when Crowder appeared to ask the same question, Booker shrugged his shoulders and Crowder turned his head with a look of disappointment before saying something to Booker.
Before that exchange, Booker’s reaction on the bench after injuring the hamstring, sticking his leg out and not returning to action is even more telling.
Suns news: Booker status uncertain after injury in Game 2 loss to Pelicans
Then again, Booker was walking on it.
That’s a good sign he didn’t need help to the locker room and back. With the history he has with his hamstring injuries, the three-time All-Star knows what it feels like.
After the game, Williams declined to get into a scenario of whether Booker could’ve played if the stakes were higher.
Booker did play through hamstring issues in last year’s finals.
The thought is fair, but these next 48 hours are not only huge for Booker’s possible chances of returning, but how the Suns prepare for Game 3 knowing he'll likely be out.
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2. Booker was beyond inferno in the first half.
He shot 12-of-18 from the field overall, 7-of-10 from deep. His closing of the first half showed why he forced his way into the NBA MVP conversation.
With the Suns down 43-42 with 4:44 left in the first half, Booker scored 15 of the team’s last 19 points, hitting three from deep with the last one from the 29 feet with 1.7 seconds left in the second to give Phoenix a 61-56 halftime lead.
The lead should’ve been bigger, though.
In the second quarter, New Orleans had seven turnovers while the Suns shot 59.1% with Booker cooking 6-of-8 from the field, hitting 3-of-4 from 3.
However, Phoenix allowed the Pelicans to match its 5-of-10 effort on 3s in the second.
That was a missed opportunity for the Suns to go into halftime up at least double digits.
Even with Booker's last-second 3, the Pelicans had life going into the second half only down five.
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3. Williams thought Phoenix’s transition defense was historically bad Tuesday.
"That was probably, for us, the worst we’ve ever looked in transition since I’ve been here, and for that to happen in a playoff game, was a bit unsettling for everybody," Williams said. "Our guys have to understand that this team is going to play hard every position and we saw it in the third quarter. We missed a shot, and they were taking off and that was a bit deflating, but that was the change in my eyes and then they got hot from three. The transition defense balance wasn’t there at any level tonight for us.”
The irony of that is 6-11 Jaxson Hayes beat nearly everyone down the floor for a dunk and Booker hurt his hamstring trying to get back in transition to help defend the play.
Mikal Bridges talked about the challenge of one man defending you and getting back to guard someone different, but the Suns didn’t live their "sprint and turn" motto Tuesday.
Fan reactions: NBA Twitter reacts to Devin Booker's injury, Suns' loss
Deandre Ayton was slow getting back when Hayes broke free for the dunk Booker tried to contest, but Hayes got behind the defense earlier in the third with Crowder trailing.
New Orleans scored eight transition points in the third, with the final one coming when pushing it to create a 4-2 break, Brandon Ingram finished with a layup off a Devonte Graham pass to put New Orleans up 88-80 with 51.9 seconds left in the third.
Ingram scored a playoff career-high 37.
He's a problem for Phoenix even with Bridges, who finished second to Marcus Smart for defensive player of the year, guarding him.
"It ain't easy, it ain't, easy," Bridges said.
It sure ain't.
4. As for Williams saying the Pelicans “got hot from 3,” that was a continuation of their 5-of-10 effort on 3s in the second.
The Pelicans were 2-of-3 in the third, but did erupt for 6-of-8 in the fourth.
CJ McCollum and Ingram each hit two threes in the fourth – but so did reserve Jose Alvarado.
The Suns admitted they didn’t make the Pelicans feel their defensive presence in allowing New Orleans to go 8-of-11 from 3 in the second half.
So, when a team gives up transition buckets in the third and a barrage of 3s in the fourth, that leads to a loss despite Phoenix shooting 50% from the field for the game – and that’s with Chris Paul and Crowder shooting a combined 7-of-27 from the field.
Crowder missed all five of his 3s Tuesday as he’s 0-for-9 from deep through two games.
New Orleans didn’t demolish the Suns on the glass as it did in Game 1 in engulfing 25 offensive rebounds, but won the board battle again in Game 2, this time by 10.
In two games, the Suns have lacked continual intensity.
They have it for decent stretches, but not extended ones.
New Orleans has played fully to its competitive character under first-year coach Willie Green, a former Suns lead assistant under Williams.
As a result, the series is tied.
5. Finally, the Pelicans are confident, but the Suns have been here before.
They surged through their historic 64-win season with most of their players missing games. Booker sat seven with a left hamstring strain.
Phoenix went 5-2 in those games without him.
Paul missed 15 games with a fractured right thumb.
The Suns won 11 of those.
The Lakers won Game 2 in Phoenix to knot last year’s first-round series and even took a 2-1 lead before the Suns won three straight games on their way to the finals.
The Suns won a franchise-record 32 road games in a single regular season this year.
They know how to overcome a spirited effort from their opponent in the most overused word to describe a road environment – hostile.
The Suns have valued team all season.
That'll be put to the test Friday, especially if Booker can’t go.
Landry Shamet would likely start, unless Williams goes with Bridges at the two and Cam Johnson at the three.
The Suns have overcome adversity all season long.
They should still win this series even if Booker is out for an extended period of time, but this certainly got more interesting after one game.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.