The Phoenix Suns rolled despite being without two starters - point guard Chris Paul and forward Jae Crowder - and sixth man Cam Johnson.
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As if the Phoenix Suns aren’t strong enough already, Deandre Ayton is adding some dimensions to his game. Ayton was 8 of 11 from the field, continuing to make mid-range jumpers while also getting inside for easier shots. He also led the Suns with 12 rebounds. At a franchise-best 57-14 through 71 games, the Suns moved nine games ahead of second-place Memphis with 11 games left. Memphis lost at Atlanta earlier Friday.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 28 points. The Suns rolled despite being without two starters – point guard Chris Paul and forward Jae Crowder – and sixth man Cam Johnson, all out with injuries.
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”We don’t want to be `Chris and Book’ dimensional,” Williams said. ”We want to be comfortable to go to other guys so that in those key moments it is not something new to them.”
They certainly weren’t Friday. Cameron Payne scored 15 points, Torrey Craig and Landry Shamet had 14 each, JaVale McGee 12 and Mikael Bridges 11.
DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points for Chicago, fifth in the Eastern Conference at 41-29. Nikola Vucevic added 16 points. Coby White had 14, Zach LaVine 12 and Tristan Thompson 11.
Craig started his second game in place of Crowder, and the forward came through with another strong performance. On Wednesday night at Houston, Craig scored 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers, and had 14 rebounds.
”To get the lead that we got and sustain it, then maintain it throughout the second half was pretty impressive,” Craig said.
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For the Bulls, it was more of the same. They lost their third in a row to fall to 2-6 in March. All the losses in the streak have been on the road, where Chicago is 16-19. After a home game on Monday, the Bulls play five straight on the road.
”I don’t want to take anything away from Phoenix or teams we’ve played against, but we’ve got to be able to have a better response when shots aren’t going in,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. ”I thought some of the (Suns’) offensive rebounds in the second quarter really hurt us, and then we started missing shots. We gotta develop a resilience when it’s not going well.”
The teams met on Feb. 7 in Chicago, with Booker scoring 38 points in a 127-124 Suns victory.
