Phoenix Suns give first look at team during Flagstaff scrimmage
FLAGSTAFF – At least 5,000 fans were treated to a free viewing of the Suns' intrasquad scrimmage Saturday at NAU's Walkup Skydome.
The real treat might come Monday, when the Suns start practicing at US Airways Center. Once the Suns get away from the 7,000-foot elevation and the two-a-day sessions, they might look more like the team Suns coach Jeff Hornacek was trying to build during the five-day, eight-session training camp here Saturday.
"I don't think it was as fast I wanted them to go," Hornacek said of the scrimmage. "But for training camp, it was pretty good."
The Suns staff will start getting a better feel for where the team is Wednesday, when the Suns open the preseason at home against Brazilian club Flamenga. Saturday's scrimmage was a pseudo-game with two nine-man rosters, Anthony Tolliver sitting out (right-hand cut), 10-minute quarters and a halftime four-player trade that included a 10-point boost to the team trailing by 19.
"We wanted to make it interesting," said Hornacek, who split time between the two benches.
Markieff Morris (22 points) and Marcus Morris (18 points, including 12 in the second quarter) were the game's high scorers, although Hornacek pointed out that they "weren't in each other's grill" defensively.
Markieff's perimeter shooting was an encouraging sign because he is being asked to stretch defenses more with his 3-point shot after the departure of Channing Frye.
"When he makes those 3s, he's going to be a tough guy to deal with for other teams," Hornacek said.
Although he was on the team that lost 86-69 (the actual score), Markieff made four of five 3-point tries and scored 13 consecutive points for his team in the third quarter.
"I've worked on it a lot more this summer," Markieff said. "Our guards do a great job penetrating so we get wide-open shots."
The teams combined to shoot 39 percent but rookie forward T.J. Warren thrived in transition to make all five of his second-half shots with the winning team. He finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Also from the winning team, power forward/center Shavlik Randolph added 13 points with two 3s and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Randolph has one career NBA 3-point attempt, a make, from February 2009.
After the Morris twins, guard Archie Goodwin was the game's next highest scorer with 16 points on six-of-15 shooting. He also had a game-high four steals and a highlight sequence late in the game, when he blocked guard Zoran Dragic's breakaway layup from behind and then finished a half-court alley-oop slam.
Newcomer Isaiah Thomas had a game-high nine assists to go with 11 points and seven rebounds in 32 minutes. He dazzled with a no-look, over-the shoulder pass and showed the competitive streak that kept him on the winning side in camp scrimmages.
"I could do a lot when given the opportunity," Thomas said. "I can bring a lot to the table. I just want to do whatever it takes to take this team to the next step, which is the playoffs."
Other notables from assistant coach Mike Longabardi's winning team included Eric Bledsoe, who had 14 points and seven assists blocked two first-quarter drives by Goran Dragic (2 for 10 as he works into shape). Center Miles Plumlee jolted the winning team to an early and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. He played all but 91 seconds of the scrimmage.
The scrimmage was clean until some sloppy final minutes but the players made it up to the fans when P.J. Tucker made the rookies dance for the crowd and the team did a 30-minute autograph session.
"I don't know if it was lack of defense or we just took better care of the ball," Hornacek said. "But until the end, we only had seven-eight turnovers per team. That might be a sign that the defense wasn't all that great."