The Houston Rockets' second unit was outscored by the Phoenix Suns 45-35, including 12-6 in the fourth quarter on Sunday without center Deandre Ayton.
But Phoenix's second unit has been solid since then, such as in the, and in their first full game without their injured center Deandre Ayton on Sunday at home against Houston.
The Suns' bench made major contributions from Jock Landale, Cameron Payne , and Landry Shamet, who each scored in double figures at 16 points, 12, and 10, respectively. Landale had the Suns’ best shooting and rebounding performances and tied with Johnson for the team-high seven rebounds, including five offensive ones and had six of their second chance points. His scoring and rebounding production all happened during the first three quarters.
“A young team, but a team that you can see the potential,” Williams said in the postgame. “You can see that they can win some games this year because they just keep coming at you. They got second chance points in the first half and that was just will and toughness and grit. The second half they just kept attacking the basket, and if you foul them that gives them a chance to sink the free throws.”
“We just got in their way. We didn’t have time to practice or anything like to figure out how to box out, it’s just a matter of guys doing it,” Williams said. “They send three guys like every time and our first shot defense was pretty good, we just couldn’t come up with the ball. At the start of the second half, the Suns had a 65-56 lead and Landale returned for the remainder of the third, the Rockets found more momentum and trimmed the lead to one. They outscored the Suns 14-3 in that span until Shamet hit a second 3 for a 90-86 lead in the third’s closing seconds.
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