Suns' Bench Arrives When Needed in Victory Over Pelicans

It was the bench that stepped up when it mattered most for the Phoenix Suns.

Much has been made about the Phoenix Suns and their depth heading into the 2022-23 regular season, yet the team is 4-1 after five games and can only thank their bench after another victory. 

The Suns defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 124-111 on Friday night in an effort that featured plenty of unsuspecting heroes in a night where Mikal Bridges paced the team with 27 points, something he did just twice all last year in the regular season. 

Yet it was the bench that delivered the most crucial performance, especially after Deandre Ayton went down with a sprained ankle after playing just eight minutes.

Bismack Biyombo, who played just seven total minutes prior to Friday, stepped up and delivered 11 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks. 

Fellow back-up center Jock Landale took a handful of hard fouls on the defensive end of the floor and also scored eight points with a +/- of +18, trailing only Damion Lee. 

To tell you what kind of night it was, Devin Booker (who scored a mere 16 points) had the only positive +/- in the starting five with +4. 

The Suns had six players off their bench play at least 17 minutes, with three (Biyombo, Torrey Craig and Cameron Payne) scoring in double digits. 

“They just play with aggression. Sometimes you think of aggression, you’re just jacking up shots but I thought the screening was at a high level with Jock (Landale) and Biz (Bismack Biyombo). Defensively, we were scraping at 50-50 balls," Monty Williams said following the game. 

"Torrey (Craig) rebounding. Landry (Shamet) fighting over screens, like those kinds of things for that group can help them have 50+ points, which isn’t typical of that group, but I just told them that tone of aggression that they set, like that’s a bar that we expect from them and they’ve been in the gym post practice, pre practice getting after it. Before and after practice is over, like going over a lot of stuff because we’ve added some guys to the rotation and so they’ve had to do some extra work to get everybody up to speed but I thought the intensity from that group was at a high level.”

Dario Saric was the only player who didn't play. Josh Okogie and Duane Washington Jr. played out the final two minutes. 

It was a total team effort on Friday, something Biyombo says will build to higher aspirations.

“When it comes down to the playoffs, we had one standout last year and you can’t constantly rely on your first unit, because at the end of the day you need your second unit to be at a certain level in order to win a championship," he said. 

"I think that’s one of the biggest emphasis Coach (Monty Williams) has put on us. How we can get the second unit to play as fast and understand the plays, and what can we implement into our game that will allow us to play faster. Today, Coach said the second unit scored 54 points. This is a plus to us winning the ball game, and if we can do that every night, it will give us the best chance to win the championship.”

Championship aspirations are still far down the road, but the Suns will need more stellar play from their second unit in order to reach those heights. 

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