Deandre Ayton Preaching Patience, Discipline Amid Losing Streak

The Phoenix Suns hope to find a win sooner rather than later. With Devin Booker still out, center Deandre Ayton knows he needs to step up.

The Phoenix Suns are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, and the team hopes the bleeding stops sooner than later. 

Part of the problem is the absence of Devin Booker, who has missed the last two weeks with a groin strain and will still need to be evaluated further down the road. 

Now, with Chris Paul considered day-to-day with right hip soreness, Phoenix looks to rely on the shoulders of Deandre Ayton. 

Ayton has been viewed as nothing short of inconsistent this season and at times has shown his frustrations. 

“Probably could have gotten to him earlier. They did a really good job of pushing him out the lane and then they had a weak side defender so they just did a really good job of crowding the paint," Williams said after Friday's loss to the Miami Heat. 

"I thought our guys couldn’t see clearly when the paint was crowded. The back side three was open, but I thought he did a good job of being patient. He didn’t get frustrated with the physicality or them having two or three guys around him tonight.”

Ayton scored 23 points with 14 rebounds in the losing effort and spoke with reporters after the game. 

“Teams are dialing in on me now. I am realizing that – we spoke about it earlier – I got to be patient when I catch the ball," Ayton said. 

"Dudes are coming without me even putting the ball on the ground. I think I am getting the hang of that a little bit. I still sped myself up a little too much today. Other than that, I feel like our guys’ effort-wise, some of that defense today created some of that offense for us and got us going a little bit. In the second half, I think we were a little too loose. We got sloppy a little bit and gave them guys a run in the last minute in that second quarter.”

The Suns have won just five games since the beginning of December, one of those wins coming just once in their last nine games. 

Ayton says Phoenix just needs to continue battling hard despite circumstances not going their way. 

“We just have to keep at it. We can come up with a bunch of excuses, but the next man up mentality. We have to take care of some of these turnovers, man. We be turning the ball over, and make sure we stay disciplined when it comes to our basketball," Ayton said. 

"The pace that we come with against teams, we just have to make sure we stay solid. Just to be in the right positions coming down the stretch. A lot of these games looking like it is coming to one possession games, and we don’t know what kind of possession that is going to be. Only thing we can do is keep solid. I know this group can do it, no matter who is out there on the floor. That is why it can tend to get frustrating because we believe so much in our group. 

"We know the culture and the things we have to go by to contribute to the team. When we do that, we do not get the dub, it can sit on our shoulders a bit.”

Phoenix hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. 

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