The Phoenix Suns are the most clutch team in the NBA, full stop. They also might be the greatest regular-season clutch team in NBA history, and it goes far beyond having two elite closers like Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
After Tuesday’s 103-96 win over the LA Clippers, the Suns improved to a league-best 23-3 record in games involving crunch-time, which NBA.com defines as the score being within five points at any point during the last five minutes of a game.
First came the Seven Seconds or Less Suns. This is the Five Minutes or Less Suns.
“You guys keep asking me the same thing,” Devin Booker said with a laugh when asked about the Suns’ crunch-time execution. “We turn it on. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s on/off switch like we’re not trying the rest of the game, but we’ve been in those situations and we understand how much those little plays and 50-50 balls matter, so we try to key in onto those.”
As a team, the Suns’ late-game numbers are simply off the charts compared to the rest of their competition. They’re first in the NBA in field-goal percentage at 59.7 percent, with the next-closest team (the Clippers) being significantly behind at 52.6 percent. They lead the league in assists, they commit the fewest turnovers and they’re first in point differential in the clutch.
In fact, going back to the 1996-97 season, which is the first year NBA.com has tracking data available for clutch scenarios, no team in the entire database has a superior win percentage (.885) or point differential (+3.6) to this year’s Suns squad.
Not the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who steamrolled their way to an NBA-record 73 wins with a 30-4 mark in crunch-time. Not the 2012-13 Miami Heat, who boasted a 32-8 record in the clutch behind their Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. And not the 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks powerhouse that lost in the first round (32-6), the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal Los Angeles Lakers (28-8) or any other champion from the last 26 years.
Has there ever been a more clutch regular-season team than these Phoenix Suns? Possibly. But not one we have on record.
There are still 25 games left to be played, of course, but for a team that’s 36-0 in games when leading after three quarters, with a Net Rating in the clutch (+46.4) that more than doubles the next-closest team (21.0), it’s safe to say this type of team is rare. So how are they getting it done? We have to start with the dynamic “Swish & Dish” duo, but the truth is, Phoenix’s crunch-time dominance extends much deeper than that.
Chris Paul and Devin Booker own the clutch
We’ve covered this topic here before (multiple times, in fact), but with each passing game, it needs to be restated: Booker and CP3 are unstoppable as closers.
“I say it all the time, I don’t take for granted what those two are able to do in closing moments,” Monty Williams said.
Williams has repeatedly referred to Paul as a “safety blanket” and a “luxury” to have down the stretch of games. Not only can he create his own highly efficient shot from the midrange, but he’s capable of setting up his teammates too.
Against the Clippers on Tuesday, he did both after the Suns found the score tied at 90 with five minutes to go. From that point on, they outscored LA 13-6, with the Point God scoring or assisting on 12 of those 13 points.
According to NBA.com, Chris Paul has scored 71 points (10th-most overall) in 78 crunch-time minutes. He’s a league-best +99 in that span and has dished out a league-leading 28 assists to only 5 turnovers. He’s shooting 56.4 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and has made 23 of his 29 free throws, ranking eighth in attempts.
“It never gets old to me,” Booker said. “I constantly talk about giving flowers and giving praise, and that doesn’t stop just because I see him every day and he’s my teammate. I still have the opportunity to tell him every day, ‘You a cold piece of work, CP3.’ He shows it. He’s just a competitor to the highest degree, and you know a competitor doesn’t like to lose.”
Paul’s midrange game remains automatic, but at age 36, he’s outthinking his opponents with his basketball I.Q. as well.
“He watches basketball,” Cam Johnson said. “A lot of basketball. And he’s played in a lot of games, so he just knows what teams want to do. He could pick them apart, he understands clock management, and a lot of teams defensively want to force a midrange shot, especially in those situations. No layups, no 3s, in those late-game situations. And what does he thrive on? Getting to that elbow and pulling up. And it just is a lot to guard.”
Of course, Devin Booker is no pushover himself either. The 25-year-old has racked up 67 points (16th in the league) in 61 crunch-time minutes. His +74 point differential ranks third in the NBA, he’s shot 66.7 percent from the floor, he’s made 50 percent of his 3s and he’s logged 7 assists to only 1 turnover.
“They come double me, I’ll be like, ‘That’s Devin Booker over there,'” Paul said. “So it’s a nice luxury to have, especially with our team and the way we play.”
It’s not just the Suns’ two lead playmakers who are capable of beating teams down the stretch, however. The scary thing is, on any given night, Phoenix will make you pay with anybody who’s on the court in the closing minutes.
The Suns’ plethora of weapons
Let’s start with Mikal Bridges, a Defensive Player of the Year candidate who has been incredibly reliable despite having a more limited number of touches. Bridges may only account for 24 points in his 68 crunch-time minutes, but his +86 is second in the NBA to only Chris Paul. Bridges is shooting 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) in the clutch, with 5 assists to zero turnovers.
On Tuesday, his corner 3 provided the dagger that put the game away:
Williams frequently cites his team’s time in the NBA bubble and last year’s Finals run as the lessons that helped prepare guys like Bridges for these very moments.
“It’s the experience in the bubble gave those guys confidence, and then the experience in the playoffs showed us what we needed to work on,” Williams said. “You have to be willing to take those shots, because the good teams are going to take away your first and second option, and when you get to the third and fourth option, you’re fighting the clock. So you don’t have time to think about it, you gotta be able to take that shot and live with the results. Mikal’s case in point. He’s not afraid to take those shots. I don’t think he was afraid before, but he hadn’t been in those positions enough.”
Building that trust was a trial and error process last year, but the Suns’ “we score” mentality trickles down from their leaders to whoever is on the court with the game on the line. Paul and Booker can get their own shot at any time, but their unselfishness makes Phoenix truly dangerous.
“For them to just have confidence in me and everybody else out there to give up the shot for somebody else, man, that builds me up,” Bridges said. “And they do it not just to me, they’ll give it to [Deandre Ayton], Jae [Crowder], Cam [Johnson], everybody. All that does is just give confidence to everybody else, so it’s just dope that we have two unselfish guys who can go get a bucket whenever they want, and even in crunch-time, still go make a play and still, besides forcing a shot, will find you. That’s rare.”
There’s something to the notion of keeping everyone in the Suns’ top six involved late in games. Jae Crowder has scored 21 points in 65 clutch minutes, shooting 6-for-14 from the floor and 4-for-10 from downtown, with 5 assists and only 1 turnover. His +79 in the fourth-best clutch mark in the NBA.
Despite only being available for 55 clutch minutes this season, Deandre Ayton has scored 24 points, shooting a hyper-efficient 11-for-12. His +54 is seventh in the NBA. Even Cam Johnson, who’s only played 30 crunch-time minutes, ranks 15th in the NBA at +39, scoring 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
Add it all up, and between Bridges, Crowder, Ayton and Johnson, those four have scored 79 points on 29-of-50 shooting, with 14 assists to only 2 turnovers. Combine that with the absurd numbers Book and CP3 are putting up, and it’s no wonder the Suns are leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.15) in crunch-time.
“I do think the experiences we’ve had over the past couple of years with this group, with Chris being the point guard, certainly helps us,” Williams explained. “Chris and Book aren’t afraid to take those shots, and they’re not afraid to have the ball in their hands. And when teams double them or run defenses at them, they understand the spacing and where guys are, and then you have guys like Jae and Cam and Mikal, and now Torrey [Craig], who’s willing to take a shot. And DA commands a lot of attention. So I think our past experiences are helping us now, even the hurt that we felt last year may be helping us now.”
The defensive end
Devin Booker’s alley-oop from Chris Paul served as the highlight of the night, but even that play started with Book jamming up Luke Kennard in the corner, ultimately forcing a turnover.
“To be able to do that and then take off down the floor and catch a lob like that, I thought that was a signature play for us,” Williams said. “It was our defense manufacturing offense for us.”
The most impressive part of the Suns closing Tuesday’s game on a 13-6 run wasn’t anything they did on the offensive end. No, it was how Phoenix held its opponent to just 6 points over the final six minutes.
That’s the end of the floor where a guy like Crowder proves his worth, especially late in games. Tuesday was no different, as he snagged 2 steals in crunch-time.
“When you have smart defenders who know what you’re trying to do and understand what the opponent is trying to do, they can make plays,” Williams explained. “Jae, Chris, they typically are calling out the other team’s sets and they know what’s coming, and so that allows for them to make plays.”
Crowder only finished with 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting, but he also chipped in 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block when all was said and done.
“I appreciate 99 so much, man,” Bridges said. “To be out there and everybody wants to score, everyone wants to shoot, take their five shots, and I think the other game he didn’t score or anything, but he had like 12 boards. He’s doing everything. It’s not just like the box score, you gotta watch the game.”
Crowder’s communication, physicality and high basketball I.Q. are part of the reason the Suns boast an NBA-best 90.1 defensive rating in the clutch, but he’s not the only one. Ayton is a stalwart who can defend on the perimeter and switch in a pinch. Cam Johnson is far more stout on that end than anyone guessed. Paul is clever with his late-game swipes, Bridges remains a smothering pest and even Booker has grown leaps and bounds from where he was just a few seasons ago.
“We were just laughing about this in the locker room actually,” Booker said with a grin. “A couple of my teammates had been giving me credit, surprisingly. We just talked about the early days and I explained to them, when 1-5 aren’t on the same page, it’s kind of hard to defend. Just going through it with young teams and people that are coming into the league for the first game, like the rebuild process, it’s hard to have a consistent defense. It’s a five people on a string thing.”
His block on Ivica Zubac right at the basket down the stretch shouldn’t go unnoticed:
The Suns are as well connected on a string as anyone, especially when the game is on the line. Combined with their high-powered offense, it’s no wonder Phoenix is now 40-0 in games where they hold their opponent under 110 points.
There’s still plenty of games left on the schedule, so there’s always the possibility this team comes back down to earth in tight games against quality opponents. But so far, this Suns team has been infallible in crunch-time, and it extends far beyond Booker, Paul, and the offensive end of the floor in general.
“When you’re on really good teams, the last seven, six minutes of the game is when you really tighten the screws,” Paul said. “I think there was a timeout with maybe like 4:55 left and Book was in the huddle saying, ‘Aight, under five minutes. Y’all know what time it is.’ I think for us, it’s having the confidence in our defense as well as our offense to know how important it is to get stops and execute.”
