Bahamian big man DeAndre Ayton and the Phoenix Suns are rising at the right time – headed to the Western Conference Finals in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Suns completed a four-game sweep of the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, winning game four 125-118 at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, and will now await the winner of the Utah Jazz/Los Angeles Clippers series. League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokić, of the Nuggets, was ejected late in the third quarter of their game four loss to Ayton and the Suns, but they were already trailing at that point, and appeared to have the fight taken out of them. The Suns were the aggressors all night, and ran away from the Nuggets after Jokić’s ejection.
Led by veteran point guard Chris Paul who finished fifth in MVP voting this season, the Suns came into these playoffs as the second seed in the west, trailing just the league-leading Jazz by just a game in the standings. Even so, the Suns were underdogs in their first-round series against LeBron James and the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers.
As for Ayton, he has been one of the most impactful big men in the playoffs. He is one of just four centers averaging a double-double in the playoffs – Jokić, defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert and Jusuf Nurkic being the others. Out of the quartet, Ayton has the highest field goal percentage.
The 22-year-old third-year center, No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018, is averaging 15.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and is shooting 71.6 percent from the floor in the playoffs – helping the upstart Suns win seven straight and eight of their 10 games in what is the playoff debut for him and a number of their stars. In fact, Paul and Jae Crowder are the only two starters with any kind of playoff experience.
Both Paul and Crowder came to the Suns in the offseason, building on a program that went undefeated in eight games in the NBA’s “bubble” in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, a year ago, and triggering what is already one of their most memorable seasons in franchise history.
During the regular season, Ayton put up 14.4 and 10.5 while shooting a career-high 62.6 percent from the field. He has taken his play up a notch in the playoffs, and this while going up against the likes of Anthony Davis, who is regarded as one of the top players in the game, in the first round, and Jokić in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Moreover, Ayton’s defense in the middle was a huge reason Jokić was unable to dominate in their series against each other. The Nuggets’ center still averaged 25 points and 13.3 rebounds in the series, but only shot 48.5 percent from the floor compared to 53.4 percent in their previous series against the Portland Trail Blazers, and 56.6 percent during the regular season.
Jokić had little help as a number of his teammates struggled in the series and they were overwhelmed by the blazing Suns – rising to the occasion in their first playoff action in 11 years, thereby ending one of the longest postseason droughts in the NBA.
The Suns will now have an extended break as they wait on the winner of the Jazz and Clippers series. Game four of that series was played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, last night with the Jazz leading two games to one. The result of game four was unavailable up to press time.
Crowder remarked after their clinching win over the Nuggets, “I look like a genius, huh?”, in regards to him signing with Phoenix in the offseason despite them not being to the playoffs in 11 seasons and with the west being stacked with high-caliber teams. Crowder helped the Miami Heat reach the NBA Finals last season.
“I knew the type of group these guys were. I felt like they were hungry. They wanted to do some special things and I wanted to be a part of it,” he said to reporters afterwards. “Very impressive how locked in we are as a unit. We have great leadership. We have great coaching putting us in a position to succeed right now. I definitely feel like we’re connected as a group and it shows.”
Behind the brilliant backcourt of Paul and fellow all-star Devin Booker and steady contributions from Crowder, Ayton and others, the Suns are heading to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the last year they reached the postseason – 2010.
The Suns’ current seven-game win streak is their longest playoff winning streak in franchise history.
Suns’ Head Coach Monty Williams, who coached Paul during their time together in New Orleans and who had never advanced past the first round as a head coach in his career, said on Sunday evening that he’s just savoring the moment.
“The emotions are happy, grateful, tired, relieved,” said Williams to reporters afterwards. “It’s one of those moments for me that quite frankly I never thought I’d have a chance to experience. For me, I have a level of gratitude I can’t even explain…. I’m not really good at waxing eloquent about how I feel other than just telling you I just feel grateful for this opportunity and to be on this team and in this moment and have a chance to move forward.”
The Suns will have at least a week off as the Western Conference Finals won’t get underway until Sunday June 20 at the earliest.
The post Ayton, Suns rising at the right time appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/ayton-suns-rising-at-the-right-time/
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