If you look at Bradley Beal in the box score of the last two Suns games, you would be most likely be wondering what is going on with Beal.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Beal had three points total during Wednesday’s 115-102 victory over the 76ers and 12 points during last night’s 128-115 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
However, Beal has been excelling on the defensive side of the ball.
Tyrese Maxey only had six points on 3-of-13 shooting against Phoenix Wednesday. Yesterday, Dejounte Murray recorded 29 points on 11-of-26 shooting. Beal was the primary defender for both matchups on back-to-back nights.
Both nights, coach Frank Vogel spoke extensively to praise what Beal has done on the floor and explained his decision to have him take on the opposing teams’ top players.
“(Beal) was the guy who was at the point of attack and he did a phenomenal job (on Tyrese Maxey),” Vogel said Wednesday. “We saw him come into the second half on Damian Lillard (Sunday) and did a great job. We got Grayson (Allen) on him early and we decided to just start Brad on Maxey (Wednesday), He did a great job; our bigs did a great job just being up on all of his pick-and- rolls, not letting him get comfortable, come off shooting threes, so it was a team effort. To hold the leading scorer to 20 points under their average is a hell of defensive response for what we are looking for after last game.”
The Suns fell 140-129 to the Milwaukee Bucks Sunday, as Damian Lillard recorded 31 points and 16 assists. Lillard had 17 points and four assists in the second half, but Beal forced three turnovers against him.
Before this four-game road trip that concluded with the Bucks loss, Vogel spoke highly of Beal being a playmaker at the point guard position, as Devin Booker was out with an ankle injury.
This has carried over even with Booker back, as Beal has seven-plus assists in each of his last five games.
On the season, the Suns have a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 114.3 with Beal on the floor. The last two games, the Suns have a defensive rating of 104.5 with Beal on the court, 9.5 better than any other Suns starter.
“Brad’s really sacrificing for the betterment of this team,” Vogel said yesterday. “Him playing point guard, him touching the paint, not always looking for a shot. He only took seven shots, and he was arguably our most dominant offensive player, creating things for others. (He) got (Devin Booker) a bunch of 3s, got (Kevin Durant) a bunch of 3s, got our role players a bunch of 3s.”
The Suns recorded a season-high 22 3-pointers as a team against the Hawks.
“Nine assists total (for Beal), and was a plus-17 overall, and he guarded Dejounte Murray primarily,” Vogel added. “He did it back-to-back nights, Maxey last night, Dejounte tonight. Can’t speak highly enough about the job that Bradley Beal is doing right now.”
Sacrificing for the betterment of the team.@Annexus | #ComingInHot pic.twitter.com/YqOAnVfWJE
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 22, 2024
This brings up a good question of if Beal can do this every night, given how good he is offensively. Beal is averaging 18.3 points on 50.4% shooting, 4.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 41 games this season.
“You try to manage it,” Vogel said Wednesday of Beal’s defense. “And if we can have Grayson eat up some minutes on some top scorers, then we try to do that. We felt like with this matchup, let’s put Brad on him right away. What I loved about Brad’s game is, he wasn’t having the best offensive night, both with with his actions, and he was the guy that didn’t get a lot of shots tonight in terms of trying to balance the Big 3. He didn’t let that slow him down at all, he went out and guarded.”
"He had three of the best defensive plays of the year all in sequence at the end of the third quarter…what he did during that stretch was phenomenal."
🗣️ Frank Vogel on Bradley's Beal defensive prowess last night@MountainAmerica | #ComingInHot pic.twitter.com/0fV16RwfCK
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 21, 2024
Beal’s defense is just another wrinkle the Suns have unlocked with the Big 3. Beal, Booker and Durant have now played 29 games together and are 18-11 in these matchups.
With the Suns (41-29) now in seventh place in the Western Conference and only having 13 games left, seeing efforts like this can only be a positive sign and something to build on moving forward.
Devin Booker, Frank Vogel spoke volumes over bench’s impact after Suns beat Hawks
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
