“We should learn from this game and learn how they play”.
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With Dragic long gone after a February trade, Bledsoe’s first full season as Phoenix’s longest tenured guard is already shaping up to be a career year, and keeping it going Monday night against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers might not take much.
The Suns’ last three wins have all come against teams playing the second game of a back-to-back.
Brandon Knight notched a triple-double with 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, along with four steals to lead Phoenix to the win. He joined Bledsoe (twice) as the only Suns since 2006 with a triple-double.
Los Angeles Lakers are in the valley of the sun, Phoenix, Arizona, to battle the (5-4) Suns.
The Suns bench outscored the Lakers bench, 55-36.
Knight’s handles are often underrated, and even as a player he’s somewhat overshadowed by his backcourt mate Eric Bledsoe. The Suns have won nine straight at home against the Lakers, one shy of the franchise record last reached from 1977-1981.
The Suns took the halftime lead 57-53 partially on the back of Brandon Knight’s 14 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, and Eric Bledsoe’s 13 points and 2 assists. G P.J. Tucker scored 11 points, his 100th career game with 10-plus points. It began with a 25-foot 3-pointer, continued with a five-foot hook shot and ended with him following Knight’s miss with a put-back lay-up. Tucker finished the first half with 11 points, setting a new season-high, in 15 minutes. “He controlled the game like a point guard should”, Bledsoe said. Knight, meanwhile, got off to a hot start with nine first-quarter points. The keys to victory for the Lakers: offensively, control the tempo of the game, limit their turnovers, use the pick-and-roll play to turn the corner and attack the painted area, provide Roy Hibbert, Julius Randle, Brandon Bass and Metta World Peace touches in the paint. Williams made four of his five shots in the quarter. It was Williams’ 3-point play that knotted the game at 35. Jordan Clarkson, who had a decent outing on the night with 20 points, helped give the Lakers a chance at cutting the lead to single digits. He scored seven of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter with two field goals, including a 3, and two free throws.
“The bench, especially in the fourth quarter, did a great job”, head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “We know he can (dunk)”.
“I don’t know”, Russell said. “But he’s obviously feeling better because he’s driving more”.
“Knight had a helluva game”.
At Suns Media Day, when asked if he believed he was a top-five point guard in this league, Bledsoe replied, “I feel like I am”.
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The Phoenix Suns (5-4) are coming from a 105-81 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Russell posted only 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, (eight of which came in garbage time), two rebounds and two assists. Suns F Markieff Morris sat out a second game with a left knee sprain, with Jon Leuer getting a second start….
