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 "I tried to tell them at one timeout, 'just smile,'" Hornacek said.
"I think everyone was thinking so much about missing the shot and
sometimes you just got to let it go. Sometimes when you are down by
12 or 15 all of a sudden maybe that pressure releases a little bit
too and you can just let it fly and have nothing to lose."
The Suns had a lot to lose, down by 15 with 5:45 remaining, but
instead of folding they stormed back and eventually pulled out a
crucial 108-100 overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
The Suns closed regulation with a 16-1 run that was started by
reserve forward P.J. Tucker hitting their first 3-pointer of the
game with 5:36 left. About four and a half minutes later, the Suns
had a chance to reach overtime when forward Marcus Morris hit a
3-pointer that forged a 92-92 tie with 1:02 remaining.
"We got to continue to go hard, continue to play, continue to
fight," Morris said. "Teams have done it to us all year, about time
the ball dropped our way."
The Suns forced the Nets into seven straight missed shots and four
turnovers down the stretch after rookie forward Cory Jefferson's
three-point play gave the Nets a 91-76 lead with 5:45 remaining. The
Suns' final stop in regulation time came when Nets guard Jarrett
Jack missed a 21-footer at the buzzer, preventing Phoenix from a
league-leading fifth loss on a buzzer-beater.
Once overtime began, the Suns finally regained the lead with 90
seconds remaining when Marcus Morris hit the go-ahead jumper. The
Suns padded their lead on a soft nine-footer by guard Brandon Knight
with 17.5 seconds remaining and got another defensive stop after a
timeout, intercepting a Brooklyn inbounds pass and eventually
sealing their fourth win in six games with four free throws.
"That's how we play," Suns guard Eric Bledsoe said. "We're down one
moment and the next moment we're right back in the game."
The Morris twins and Bledsoe led the Suns with 19 points apiece.
Marcus Morris capped his 9-of-21 night with the go-ahead shot in
overtime. Markief Morris was 7 of 16 from the field, and Bledsoe
scored six of his points in overtime on a night when he committed
seven turnovers.
Guard Brandon Knight, who missed a game-winning layup in overtime
for Milwaukee on Nov. 19, added 12 points despite shooting 4 of 16
and not making a 3-pointer.
"We had to fight back and really fight for this win," Knight said.
"We knew in the second half that if we made a couple (of shots) we
would put ourselves in position to win the game. We started doing it
late and we were able to push ourselves out there."
[to top of second column] |
While the Suns were all smiles after inching to within 1 1/2 games
of idle Oklahoma City for eighth place in the West, the Nets had one
of their worst losses of the season, getting outscored 32-9 over the
last time 10:40 and going 3 of 18 from the floor.
"We just kind of stopped our flow of the game," Brooklyn point guard
Deron Williams said. "We got stagnant, and when you play that, it's
not a secret, we're not a great team."
Added Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins: "We just couldn't execute,
turned the ball over. We had a lot of easy shots that we didn't
make."
The Nets (25-35) dropped their second straight after getting wins
over Dallas and Golden State. Brooklyn is 1 1/2 games out of the
eighth spot in the East and had plenty of chances before the fourth
quarter collapse to secure the win as it was 19 of 51 in the paint.
Center Brook Lopez led the Nets with 19 points and Jefferson added
12. Forward Joe Johnson was the lone starter in double figures in 11
while Williams finished with nine on 2-of-16 shooting.
NOTES: The Suns are 32-30 but in 10th place in the Western
Conference and that fact is why NBA playoff realignment has been
discussed recently. Asked about the idea of the top 16 teams making
the playoffs, Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said, "It makes some sense
in the fact that you get the best teams. You're still going to have
an imbalance because not every team is going to play each other the
same amount of times." ... Phoenix C Alex Len started his first pro
game in Brooklyn, doing so after he put himself on the draft radar
with a 23-point game for Maryland against Kentucky in the first
college game at the Barclays Center on Nov. 9, 2012. Len played 17
minutes and sprained his right ankle, leaving him questionable for
Saturday's game in Cleveland.... Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins
acknowledged that F Joe Johnson is suffering from some "dings" but
also called him a "warrior" for playing through them. ... The Nets
used the same starting lineup for the seventh straight game.
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