PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns’ injury report for Tuesday’s play-in showdown with the Portland Trail Blazers brought good news for both teams.
Guard Grayson Allen at least has a shot to play. He is listed as questionable due to left hamstring soreness after tweaking it in Friday’s loss.
Allen being able to give it a go would be a huge lift for the Suns. He is the second-best playmaker on the team behind Devin Booker when it comes to being an engine for ball movement.
Help defenders have been less antsy against Phoenix lately, allowing Booker and others to play in more 1-on-1 spaces to deny the Suns’ ability to swing it around. Allen would be an X-factor with establishing that, as Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks have both been inconsistent in that regard. And of course, Allen’s high-level shooting provides maximum spacing for dribble attacks by others.
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Speaking of Green, he and Jordan Goodwin were both off the injury report after getting injured on Wednesday.
Phoenix needs Green’s slashing pressure and for him to make smart decisions against two great rim protectors in Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams III, while Goodwin’s on-ball defense will be massively helpful versus a drive-heavy bunch. He will be vital in coverage against explosive Portland guards Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson, and might even spend some time on All-Star Deni Avdija.
If Allen can’t go, that opens the rotation door for someone like Haywood Highsmith, Ryan Dunn or Rasheer Fleming to get minutes.
The largest development of the injury report was on the other side, where Blazers wing Jerami Grant was upgraded to questionable after missing the last seven games due to a right calf strain. You could suspect some gamesmanship with an “oh, he might play!” like with Allen, but the Suns better hope it is, because Grant has torched them this season.
He is a large wing who has been unstoppable against Phoenix when he has played downhill. The two times he faced the Suns he shot 61% and averaged 23 points per game. In addition, he’s also been Portland’s best 3-point shooter, making 38.9% of his 6.1 tries a game for a team bottom-five in 3-point percentage.
All three of those aforementioned wings would be of major assistance against Grant and the Blazers’ slashers. Dunn and Fleming have been majorly inconsistent as on-ball defenders, so if Highsmith is indeed healthy after making his return from a 12-game absence on Sunday, he’s the best bet to play a role.
Devin Booker, Jordan Ott discuss key aspects to Blazers matchup
Booker and Ott spoke on Monday after practice. They provided some input on some key aspects to the matchup.
Booker’s thoughts
On defenses forcing him to shoot more than pass lately: “Go score the ball. Do what I do best and make adjustments from there.”
On Toumani Camara’s improvement since getting drafted by Suns: “He’s gotten a lot more confident, he’s gotten a lot more physical. … He’s one of the best defenders in the league.”
On another battle with Jrue Holiday: “We’ve competed at the highest level and then competed together at the highest level right after. Someone that I have ultimate respect for. In my opinion, one of the most underrated players to ever play the game. Always enjoy it.”
On Collin Gillespie’s recent struggles: “I think he’ll be fine. He lives for these moments. He just needs the extra adrenaline and there will be a lot of that tomorrow.”
On Avdija drawing fouls: “He does a good job with sweep-throughs, he’s physical, he creates the contact and then falls out of it a lot. It’s a tough coverage.”
On using smart aggression defending Avdija: “You definitely have to, like you say, keep your hands out of the cookie jar or else he’ll find them. But you don’t want to be hesitant and just let him score the basketball, either. So it’s finding that balance, finding a way to be disruptive.”
Ott’s thoughts
On the extreme second-chance points discrepancy against Portland: “I think that’s going to be a big key. We both like to attack the offensive glass. Kind of do it in a similar way where we just send bodies. They have some more size at some parts where we’re just really going to have to make the first hit. That has not changed from the very first drill we did back in training camp. Nothing changes for us. We gotta really hit and then get multiple bodies in there to try and get the rebound.”
On managing their own turnovers to benefit from Portland’s own giveaways: “[Our own turnover numbers] have been good the last couple of months. … I think that’s a new group trying to get together, a new system. I don’t think that is abnormal. So some of those things we [cleaned up]. It’s huge. That’s part of the possession game that we always talk about. That was the piece we did definitely improve on over the course of the season because some of the other areas slipped.”
On Donovan Clingan as an efficient pick-and-pop big: “That’s why it’s unique — they’re five-out and they have incredible drivers. That’s the challenge. They can really put pressure on your defense by those guys getting in the paint and then they have four other shooters on the perimeter. It’s a combination of his pick-and-pop or him just spacing. We’ve seen the numbers, we know that he’s definitely more than capable. It’s not getting him into a rhythm, that’s the key part. We don’t want just any straight catch-and-shoot, easy-rhythm shots.”
On the Portland matchup: “They play very fast. … Great at driving the ball, they really attack the offensive glass. And then defensively, they just have great length on the wing, great size inside, they’re super physical. … We have to value the possessions, each possession like we’ve talked about for months now.”
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