Photo Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Republic
Ayton, Booker & Rubio – Suns’ Three Headed Monster Leaves Knicks Chanceless
Deandre Ayton played a game for the ages and scored 26 points while adding a career-high 21 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns destroyed a helpless New York Knicks squad at Madison Square Garden.
Ayton’s teammates, backcourt duo Ricky Rubio and Devin Booker, added to the big man’s impressive numbers. Booker finished the night with 29 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Rubio had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 13 assists. But it wasn’t only the three stars who impressed everyone in the arena, but also the supporting cast, who played very efficiently. After the game, Ayton said:
“We are only out there for one another. Without team success, you are not going to reach your individual accolades. That is big on this team and we feed off each other.”
Ayton’s teammate, superstar Devin Booker added:
“Everybody wants to see each other’s success. We are working every day. We are not getting complacent. After a win, we are not satisfied. We have goals in-house that we keep as a team that we want to reach.”
Team success, basically the bottom line that runs through the game’s summary like a thread, and unfortunately for the Knicks, something they were definitely lacking tonight.
It was the Knicks seventh loss in their past eight games, and to make things worse, rookie guard RJ Barrett left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury, that looked severe.
During media availability in the Knicks’ locker room, Barrett was using crutches and feared to have suffered the first major injury of his career, due to a pain and feeling he had never experienced before.
“It hurts. I never really been hurt before. I don’t remember the last time I missed a game. But, we play so many games it was bound to happen.”
It was a forgettable game for the Knicks, who were behind plays all night. And while they haven’t really been playing too impressively this season, this game tonight was worse than their usual performances. Even more so if we take their improvement, ever since Mike Miller became the new head coach, under consideration.
