The Philadelphia 76ers were looking to bounce back following a tough loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on the second game of the trip, but they then ran into a Phoenix Suns team that was playing some good basketball entering the game. Their defense failed them as they fell 120-111 and are now 1-2 on the trip.
The main culprit was Suns star Devin Booker who got off quickly and he had 36 points to lead the way. He was efficient and he shot 14-for-23 from the floor and he knocked down three triples including a dagger triple late from the logo.
He struggled early as Ben Simmons did a terrific job against him, but once he was able to get some switches, that’s when he was able to get into a groove. Once Booker gets into that zone, that is when he is basically unstoppable.
“We just didn’t have the ability to stay square for the most part,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Booker makes tough shots and you’ll always live with those. I thought overall, Ben did a pretty good job, especially in the first half. The times Booker scored, for the most part, was when Ben was off of him and someone switches.”
There were a few times where Danny Green was switched on to Booker and he was able to get to work which then got him into the zone that he was in. Green is not a bad defender, but when one faces a guy like Booker,
“We let him get hot,” said Green. “Partially my fault. I let him get to the basket and get a couple easy ones. We had them pretty under wraps so we had them in a good spot to start, he wasn’t too comfortable. Once he got a couple to drop going to get to the free-throw line. Then he got a couple to get hot, they set some good screens for him, we didn’t get into the bodies like we’re supposed to. We weren’t physical enough with those guys.”
Simmons felt the team got off to a good start, but it just was not their night following the opening quarter.
“I feel the coverage, overall, was good to start the game,” said Simmons. “We had a few blitzes going on which led to turnovers in transition. We didn’t have any pace in the second half. We did have too many deflections, we didn’t get too many stops. It’s hard to keep that pace when guys are hitting shots and you got to take the ball out. You can’t just get the rebound and get out which was part of it.”
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