Devin Booker on being surrounded by young players on Suns
Devin Booker, once a young phenom, is now a veteran surrounded by young players: “It’s a lot of jokes.”
The Phoenix Suns defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 127-110, avoiding a repeat of a recent loss where they squandered a large lead.Collin Gillespie and Devin Booker led the Suns with 19 points each, while the team’s bench contributed a season-high 63 points.Phoenix remains shorthanded due to injuries to Jalen Green and Grayson Allen.
PORTLAND – The Phoenix Suns led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter of their 127-110 victory on Tuesday, Nov. 18, over the Portland Trail Blazers before a crowd of 17,051 at Moda Center.
Two days earlier, the Suns squandered a 22-point advantage in the fourth quarter of a 124-122 home loss on Nov. 16 to the Atlanta Hawks to snap a five-game win streak.
Lesson learned.
“That was the message after the third (quarter), close it out,” Suns guard Devin Booker said after the Blazers game. “We were just in this situation. That’s growth.”
Collin Gillespie and Booker each scored 19 points to lead the Suns (9-6), who have gone 7-2 since their 1-4 start.
Mark Williams posted 15 points, Oso Ighodaro delivered 14, Dillon Brooks contributed 12 and Jordan Goodwin added 10.
From Tuesday:
“Close it out.”
“Make sure we keep that lead going.”
“Great overall response.”
Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn and Jordan Ott on Suns 127-110 win at Portland two days after blowing 22-point lead in 4th of 124-122 loss to Hawks.
Led Blazers by 25 in 4th. #Suns #RipCy pic.twitter.com/CyVib23x1p
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 19, 2025
The Suns reached season highs in bench points with 63 and steals with 19 as Ryan Dunn established a career-high in thefts with five.
Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe led all scorers with 29 points. Losers of its last three games, Portland (6-8) is 1-5 in its last six.
The Suns begin a three-game homestand on Friday, Nov. 21, against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They follow with a back-to-back Sunday, Nov. 23, against the San Antonio Spurs and Nov. 24 versus the Houston Rockets in Kevin Durant’s first game in Phoenix since the trade.
Here are several takeaways from the game against the Blazers.
How the Suns kept a large lead in second half
The numbers help explain how Phoenix maintained a double-digit lead for the final 22 minutes and 48 seconds of its win.
The Suns went on a 14-5 run that started late in the third quarter and continued through the early part of the fourth to take a 103-82 lead.
They limited Sharpe to just nine points in the second half.
Facing better on-ball defense backed with more discipline, Sharpe only took eight shots from the field, in the second half, eight fewer than he hoisted in the first.
The Blazers went just 4-of-18 on 3s in the second half while the Suns connected on 8-of-21 shots from distance.
Beyond the numbers, Phoenix didn’t forget about losing a 22-point lead to the Hawks two days earlier. The Suns weren’t trying to avoid history repeating itself.
They also stayed aggressive in taking 11 more shots in the second half than the Blazers. Ten different Suns scored in the second half.
From Tuesday:
“I didn’t know I had 5. I thought I had 2. I don’t remember how I got the first 2 or 3.”
Ryan Dunn career-high 5 steals in Suns win over Blazers.
“His point of attack defense, his athleticism, his never quit attitude on the ball.” Jordan Ott. #Suns #RipCity pic.twitter.com/R79lsOzdia
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 19, 2025Resting legs in fourth
The Suns did more than just cruise to victory.
They rested Booker, Brooks and Williams the entire fourth quarter.
Booker even had time to give two-time Cy Young winner, Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, a pair of his Book sneakers during a timeout in the quarter. He’s a big Tigers fan, but the late-game rest is even bigger when considering the Suns have another stretch of three games in four days.
Phoenix has already played 15 games.
Suns star Devin Booker took time during a timeout to talk to two-time Cy Young winner, Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal, during 4th quarter of Suns 127-110 win over Portland at Moda Center.
Suns were up 116-94 with 5:19 left in the game when they talked. #Suns #RipCity pic.twitter.com/ivHywszok1
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 19, 2025
Only the Golden State Warriors (9-7) have played more this season at 16.
The Suns remain shorthanded without Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) and Grayson Allen (right quad contusion).
Green is going to be re-evaluated in three to five weeks, while Allen is trying to work his way back after missing a second game with the quad contusion.
Still looking to get the swelling down in the quad, Allen wore a black sleeve on his right leg during a pregame workout.
He concluded the workout by trying to dunk standing flat-footed under the rim. Allen first balanced himself on his left leg and jumped to dunk with his right hand. Missed.
Allen then jumped off both legs and finished with the same hand.
Not sure how much can be taken from the dunk in terms of progress, but Allen getting up 3s in a workout shows he has some movement.
Rookie cracks first-half rotation
Eleven Suns saw action in the first half, with Rasheer Fleming being one of them.
The rookie forward has essentially played garbage minutes early in his first season, but Suns coach Jordan Ott put him in the game in the second quarter.
Playing aggressively, Fleming scored four points, all on free throws, helped force a turnover and grabbed four rebounds in the first half.
Booker offered words of encouragement during Fleming’s six minutes in the first half.
Ott’s comments after the loss against the Hawks were perhaps a sign that Fleming was going to get an early shot against the Blazers. Fleming finished with four points, missing all four of his field goals, and six rebounds in 10 minutes.
“We’re going to have to find new parts of our rotation because these games don’t stop,” Ott said on Nov. 16. “We play in two days. Even though we had two days in between, our guys were feeling it yesterday after three games in four days.”
While Khaman Maluach is the team’s lottery pick at 10th overall, Fleming is a talented, athletic forward with a 7-foot-5 wingspan who can play on both ends.
He came into the game having played a total of 36 minutes in seven games, but the second-round pick out of Saint Joseph’s had a strong performance in his G League game last week.
Fleming churned out 23 points and nine rebounds as he and Maluach were assigned to the Valley Suns for that one game. Fleming has also been shining in practice pickup games.
When Suns are fully healthy
The Suns, when they’re fully healthy, will probably start Booker, Green, Allen, Brooks and Williams. They started the one game on Nov. 8 at the Los Angeles Clippers, but Green reinjured his hamstring in the first quarter.
Then the Suns are coming off the bench with Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, Dunn and Nick Richards or Ighodaro.
Richards has lately been the first big off the bench as Ott continues to play three bigs.
Isaiah Livers and Goodwin have made their way into the rotation, but Livers has a limited number of games being a two-way player.
Two-way contracts can be active for up to 50 games, meaning if he is on an active roster, that counts against that number.
Livers played his ninth game, but he has been active for 11 games.
Fleming is certainly the future for Phoenix, but he may see more action to not only provide energy, but he’s one of the best players on the team in terms of size and talent.
He just lacks NBA game experience.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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