\n Duane Rankin
\nArizona Republic\n <\/p>\n
CLEVELAND \u2014 The\u00a0Phoenix Suns<\/a>\u00a0needed center Mark Williams to have a huge game to combat the\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>\u2019 frontcourt duo of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.<\/p>\n The Suns needed to slow down Donovan Mitchell.<\/p>\n They failed to do that, too, but were still in position late in the third quarter to pull out a win to cap a successful four-game road trip with a victory, but they succumbed to a massive Cleveland scoring surge to lose, 129-113, on Dec. 31 at Rocket Arena.<\/p>\n \n People are also reading\u2026\n <\/p>\n A sellout crowd of 19,432 watched the Cavs (19-16) build a 20-point, first-half lead, nearly lose it as Phoenix chopped that down to two points late in the third, but then went on a 24-5 run to pull away in snapping Phoenix\u2019s four-game win streak.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the road against a battle-tested team, that’s a tough deficit to get out of, but we kept clawing,\u201d Suns star guard Devin Booker said.<\/p>\n Booker paced the Suns with 32 points, scoring 19 in the third quarter, while Dillon Brooks posted 20, all coming in the first half, as he only attempted three shots in the second half.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s on me,\u201d Suns coach Jordan Ott said. \u201cGot to find ways get him going.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are takeaways as Phoenix (19-14) returns home to face Sacramento on Jan. 2 after going 3-1 on the four-game road trip.<\/p>\n \u201cStings a little bit,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cWe couldn’t keep the streak going, but we’ll make a new streak.\u201d<\/p>\n Cavs have their way inside<\/p>\n Ott saw firsthand last season as a Cavs assistant what Mobley and Allen bring to the table. He knew what Phoenix required from Williams to offset Mobley and Allen to compete against the Cavs. \u201cWe’re going to need (Williams) to be dominant and massive inside for us,\u201d Ott said pregame.<\/p>\n Williams and Suns backup big Oso Ighodaro came up small against Mobley and Allen.<\/p>\n The Cleveland duo combined for 32 points and 21 rebounds while Williams and Ighodaro combined for just two points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n Williams accounted for the two points that came on free throws and Ighodaro managed just one rebound in 21 minutes.<\/p>\n That simply can\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n The 6-3 Jordan Goodwin, wearing a mask due to a jaw sprain, battled for the Suns among the Cleveland trees to grab a game-high 15 rebounds in setting a franchise record for most boards by a guard coming off the bench.<\/p>\n He wrestled away eight offensive boards, but only scored four points on 1-of-11 shooting.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one thing to grab the offensive boards as Goodwin is a specialist at it for a guard, but he found it challenging trying to finish around Allen and Mobley, who blocked five shots.<\/p>\n Cleveland finished with 56 points in the paint, 20 more than Phoenix generated.<\/p>\n That can\u2019t happen. Simply can\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n Cavs took it from Suns early, late<\/p>\n Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson drenched Ott with pregame praises, saying the Suns are the \u201chardest playing team\u201d in the NBA right now and credited his former assistant for that.<\/p>\n Ott worked under Atkinson in Brooklyn and, most recently, in Cleveland last season. Atkinson felt Ott was ready to be an NBA head coach at that time<\/p>\n \u201cHe just took a bigger step,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cTook on a bigger role with us. I think I stepped back a lot, kind of let him and my other assistants do more. Saw the confidence growing. He was my right-hand man and has been for a while. It doesn’t surprise me the success he’s having.\u201d<\/p>\n Atkinson later said Cleveland had better come to play or the Suns were \u201cgoing to take\u201d the game away from his team.<\/p>\n Turns out, Cleveland snatched it from Phoenix from the start.<\/p>\n As Ott said, \u201cIt was an onslaught early.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cavs won the physical battle to take that 20-point lead in the first half.<\/p>\n Phoenix responded with its usual pressure to rally within two points late in the third, but Cleveland reestablished the physical edge and ran away with it in the fourth.<\/p>\n They also protected the ball better.<\/p>\n Phoenix forced six turnovers in the third quarter that led to nine points, but Cleveland only coughed it up once in the fourth. The Suns are at their best when forcing turnovers, making 3s, getting on the offensive boards and winning the possession game.<\/p>\n The Suns grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, but they only scored 15 second-chance points on 5-of-21 shooting.<\/p>\n They shot 41.7% from 3 in going 15-of-36, but Cleveland also hit 15 3s on 38 attempts.<\/p>\n Phoenix took nine more shots, but Cleveland generated 31 assists on 48 field goals.<\/p>\n The Cavs not only shared the ball, but they also picked apart the Suns’ defense with open layups, dunks and 3s off ball movement, player motion and dribble penetration.<\/p>\n Mitchell vs. Booker<\/p>\n There\u2019s always been a debate about who is better between two of the NBA\u2019s best shooting guards in Booker and Mitchell.<\/p>\n Pretty even outcome on New Year\u2019s Eve, but Mitchell attempted 12 free throws to Booker\u2019s four.<\/p>\n Chalk it up to the style of play, as Mitchell is considered the more physical, athletic player or Booker not getting favorable whistles.<\/p>\n Booker had a cut on his upper right arm that looked like he got tangled up with Marvel\u2019s Wolverine, but how Mitchell handled Brooks\u2019 physicality factored in the outcome.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t express outward frustration. Kept his cool even after falling to the floor from a collision with Brooks and played through it.<\/p>\n Those who have stayed composed when facing Brooks and the Suns fare much better than those who react with frustration and anger.<\/p>\n Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter<\/p>\n Sent weekly directly to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duane Rankin Arizona Republic CLEVELAND \u2014 The\u00a0Phoenix Suns\u00a0needed center Mark Williams to have a huge game to combat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,17676,193,736,6,1408,2065,472,4045,66,604,1612],"class_list":{"0":"post-515913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-basketball-positions","10":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","11":"tag-men","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-teams","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-phoenix-suns","16":"tag-phoenixsuns","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-suns","19":"tag-team-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115836518762525888","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}