Friday\u2019s 5-of-13 shooting performance by Devin Booker marked the fifth straight game he failed to crack 40% with his field goal percentage. There have only been six instances in his career where that has happened more than three contests in a row, and reaching five marked his highest such streak since his rookie year when he did it in six straight fixtures, per Stathead<\/a>.<\/p>\n He snapped that streak on Saturday (5-for-11) but was only productive from the foul line, going 14-of-15 for 24 points, seven assists and one turnover.<\/p>\n \u201cNah. Just gotta make shots,\u201d Booker said if he attributes anything to the recent funk.<\/p>\n Booker ends November shooting 19-of-78 from 3 (24.4%).<\/p>\n \u201cJust look for my opportunities the few times I get a clean one, it\u2019s back to the fundamentals,\u201d Booker said, noting how his first two attempts on Saturday were good looks.<\/p>\n There is a reason why everyone in the league does not play like the Suns do.<\/p>\n It is a grueling and taxing style of play to maintain for an entire season, something Booker\u2019s always-stellar physical condition would have him ready for. There\u2019s still an adjustment to it, though, and he\u2019s surely dealing with that across this week-and-a-half that the Suns have been undermanned for as well.<\/p>\n His tremendous form a few weeks ago has now been sandwiched by two bad spurts across a quarter of the season. It wasn\u2019t costing the Suns games this go-around just yet but that bill is now coming due.<\/p>\n Grayson Allen returned from a seven-game absence due to a right quad contusion, and was expectedly on a minutes cap, reaching 26 to contribute 10 points and three assists.<\/p>\n It was a sigh of relief for Suns fans after Jordan Goodwin (left ankle sprain) played and Collin Gillespie was absent from the injury report. Both of them got injured in the fourth quarter of Friday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n Gillespie hit all four of his 3s in the first half for 12 points in 29 minutes, which partially helped counteract some of a Tim Hardaway Jr. heater. The Denver wing drained seven of his own for 23 points in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n Dillon Brooks was the only Sun outside of Gillespie to find a flow. He was 10-of-18 for 27 points in 28 minutes.<\/p>\n Ryan Dunn (right wrist sprain) missed his fifth game since his fall trying to posterize Timberwolves\u2019 Rudy Gobert, while Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) is now up to 11 straight games stuck wearing street clothes. Green\u2019s reevaluation window set of 4-6 weeks is from Dec. 9 to Dec. 23. Phoenix has three more games until that Dec. 9 date.<\/p>\n Mark Williams was out for the Suns due to right calf soreness, a new injury designation after the previous stints of back-to-backs he had missed were listed due to right knee injury management.<\/p>\n Ott said pregame this is a new injury and that the knee actually checked out OK for him to play in the second game of a back-to-back for the first time this season.<\/p>\n Ott noted the injury developed during Friday\u2019s loss and was flagged by the Suns when Williams was getting evaluated for the chance to play on Saturday. This is obviously quite the concern, as any injury no matter its severity is scary considering Williams\u2019 extensive injury history.<\/p>\n No Isaiah Livers (right hip soreness) for the second straight night meant more minutes for new two-way guard Jamaree Bouyea and the return of Nigel Hayes-Davis to the rotation.<\/p>\n Bouyea has been terrific, putting up 20 points in the 33 minutes he played (15 on Saturday) in his first spurt as a regular the previous two contests.<\/p>\n The undrafted guard out of San Francisco in 2022 is a big-time scoring talent, with some fluid pull-up shooting aided by some real explosiveness to his ball-handling. That is why Phoenix is the sixth team to give him a look in three years and it wouldn\u2019t be surprising at all to see him stick considering the offensive skill set, even as a generously listed 6-foot-2 guard that still has progress to make as a playmaker for others.<\/p>\n To say it bluntly, Nick Richards has performed poorly enough consistently enough to have already lost his rotation spot.<\/p>\n Saturday is a bad night to spotlight it because he had to match up with Jokic a whole lot, but Ott has really, really tried to stick with Richards through minutes that are hurting the team on both ends. There were a half-dozen possessions in the first quarter that you could directly put Richards at fault for.<\/p>\n Ott, at last, responded with a small-ball lineup for the first time all year for more than just a few possessions, using Hayes-Davis as his 5 for what looked like the last 4:19 of the second half. But after Jokic took back-to-back trips to the foul line, he was pulled for Ighodaro. Richards returned at the start of the fourth quarter and it did not go much better. He was sat for another small lineup in just 2:17.<\/p>\n At this point, it also says a lot about how slow Phoenix wants to take this with No. 10 overall pick Khaman Maluach, because the majority of players in his spot on the pecking order would have at least earned a glance or two in place of Richards. It remains a no-go.<\/p>\n Denver was missing Christian Braun (left ankle sprain), Aaron Gordon (right hamstring strain) and Julian Strawther (lower back injury management), putting further emphasis on the marquee offseason acquisition Cam Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 2019 Suns first-round pick has started to acclimate well after a brutal first few weeks that anyone who has watched him long enough knew could be attributed to a guy playing through something, something he routinely did in Phoenix, whether it was listed on the injury report or not.<\/p>\n His minute totals were rarely cracking 30, and after finally taking a game off on Nov. 15, he was averaging 18 points per game and shooting 58.7% across 35.5 MPG in his following six contests coming into Saturday.<\/p>\n Johnson provided a solid 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting in the Denver win.<\/p>\n Jokic didn\u2019t ever have to go his fourth or fifth gear of complete domination, a testament to his greatness. His 26 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists and five turnovers was him on a bad night. Jamal Murray added 24 points (8-of-18) with his usual crafty finishing and pull-up moves, while committing five turnovers with four assists.<\/p>\n Former Pac-12 basketball fans might remember Spencer Jones, a five-year starter for Stanford and a do-it-all wing that does a little bit of everything. Tweener issues to his game prevented him from getting drafted last offseason but he\u2019s been a great find for Denver, and in the start on Saturday had 13 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n
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