Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen meets with the media after the Suns picked up their fourth-straight win with a narrow 103-97 home victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Phoenix improved to 5-1 with the win, while Portland dropped its second-straight game and fell to 2-5 on the year.
The Suns showed fight again, as they have all season, outscoring Portland 44-18 in the third quarter after trailing 47-43 at halftime and allowing a 17-4 run to end the second quarter. This means the Suns scored more points in the third than they did the entire first half. Phoenix shot an awful 12-for-44 (27.3%) in the first half, but ended shooting 35-for-93 (37.6%) from the floor and was 17-for-28 (60.7%) in the third.
Phoenix did not perform well in the fourth quarter at all, letting Portland somehow cut its once 26-point lead to only two points. The Suns played with their food and the Blazers made them pay, but it ultimately was not enough. Portland won the fourth quarter 32-16.
Allen, who led the league in 3-point percentage last season, hadn’t made his mark offensively in the three games he played this season leading up to the matchup in a new role off the bench, averaging only 4.3 points in 17.5 minutes per game in those contests.
Against Portland, he finally had his first big game of the season, scoring 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting off the bench and blocking a career-high three shots.
Some key quotes from Allen’s presser (via Suns):
- On what was working in the third quarter compared to the fourth quarter: “We had a focus at halftime to try to limit their second-chance points and offensive rebounds the first few minutes of the third quarter. They still got some but I feel like we did a better job and offensively we were moving the ball and knocked down shots. I actually thought during the fourth quarter when they made their comeback, I thought we got a lot of good shots. I don’t think we strayed away from the type of basketball we played for three quarters before that. We just missed and gave up some easy ones, but they also had some tough ones to make that comeback. So, some of it was just the flow of the game and missing some good looks.”
- On taking the positive compared to the negative tonight in the fourth quarter: “I don’t think that this one was just because we went asleep. I think a good bit of it was going a little cold. We still generated good looks. We generated open looks. We weren’t stalling out, slowing up, like relaxing and not moving the ball defensively. We probably could have done a little bit better job but I don’t think it was like some of those 20-point comeback losses.”
- On getting to a rhythm tonight and hitting shots after six games in tonight: “It’s definitely different. Especially just last year starting and playing extended minutes at a time. It’s very easy to be in flow and in rhythm when you’re out there most of the time, and starting the game off that way. So, it’s just a little bit different. I think it’s a little bit harder, but it’s just something to get used to and try to get myself in that rhythm quicker by making some play. It doesn’t always have to be knocking down the first shot or something, just make a play, make a good extra pass, get a block, get a steal, get a rebound, something that helps you get into rhythm and into the flow a little bit better and quicker.”
Allen also discussed the team’s defensive effort, making a 3-pointer after his shoe came off and Bradley Beal’s performance.
“We did a great job contesting their shots at rim”
The #Suns held the #Blazers to 33.3% shooting tonight, which is lower than any opponent FG% allowed last season. Our @brendan_mau asked Grayson Allen, who had a career-high 3 blocks, what worked for Phoenix defensively. pic.twitter.com/popVbt8WrU
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) November 3, 2024
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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
