PHOENIX — We are better off not reviewing where the Phoenix Suns’ 135-127 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz lands on the spectrum between nearly disastrous loss and spirit-lifting win.

In the sixth sense we have developed watching this team the last two years, the Suns got their lead up to 13 with 6:05 to go. One more Suns bucket and stop would do it.

It sounds so easy. So simple.

And then, the Suns failed to get a bucket or stop for five straight possessions. It was suddenly Suns 111, Jazz 111 at 2:40 remaining.

An awful gamble by Phoenix guard Tyus Jones on a pass 35 feet away from the basket, one of dozens of Suns defensive gaffes on the night, set up a Utah tip dunk to put it ahead by two at 49 seconds left. After a Grayson Allen missed 3 (more on him in a minute) Isaiah Collier’s difficult midrange fallaway put the Jazz up four at four ticks left, all but sealing it.

But then Allen hit a 3 and Phoenix fouled quickly enough to put Utah’s Lauri Markkanen at the free throw line at 0.9 on the clock. Markkanen made both, a moment in which missing the second intentionally had some logic to it, even though Phoenix had a timeout. Devin Booker agreed he expected Markkanen to miss the second.

The rebound would have taken a few slivers off and not allowed Allen to set his feet in a direct re-creation of Rex Chapman’s infamous game-tying triple in the playoffs against the Seattle SuperSonics 28 years ago.

THERE WAS .9 ON THE CLOCK.

AND GRAYSON ALLEN HIT IT. pic.twitter.com/vVdES4O2rT

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) February 8, 2025

Opposite side of the floor, same spot.

Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer, a Holbrook native who had Suns roots growing up, remembers that shot well.

“I told Rex that was like the carbon copy. … I see the picture in the dentist’s office when I go to the dentist,” Budenholzer said.

Booker knows his history.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah — that is it,” he confirmed, noting Chapman will surely show Allen the highlight on Saturday. Allen also knows that is coming.

Allen had much less time, 0.9 to 4.3, so it’s a delicate moment with lots of details that have to go perfectly.

“In that situation, since it’s a skip pass, it feels like there’s a lot of time of the ball in the air before it gets to your hands. … The first box you’re trying to check is feet behind the line,” Allen said. “And once you catch it, for a righty going to the right you kind of feel a little freer that the guy is not gonna block it and just get the shot off and trust it.”

You’ll notice that Allen doesn’t fully dip the ball back down in a traditional shooting motion, the type of no-dip 3 marksmen like him practice constantly. It’s a sped-up release. Allen confirmed to Arizona Sports that’s a lot of repetition paying off, noting how as a shooter you are aware of how long everything takes and the differences required when it’s, say, 2.5 seconds as opposed to one.

It was a lot more than just Allen too, the beauty in these types of plays.

Booker, of course, has made that type of assist of the screening variety at the buzzer before. He astutely pointed out to Arizona Sports he set the screen as well on the Valley-Oop in the 2021 Western Conference Finals. He also wisely pointed out at the podium that Royce O’Neale made an “excellent pass,” a la Jae Crowder’s fantastic feed to Deandre Ayton.

Utah, an awful team, predictably spiraled in the extra period to seal it.

Booker played all 29 minutes after halftime for 49 to post 47 points, six rebounds, 11 assists and four turnovers on 18-of-33 shooting. The Suns were without Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and Bradley Beal (left great toe soreness), their first win in six tries while missing both of them. Phoenix hosts Denver the next night.

The Jazz, now 12-38, came into the evening with two total winning streaks on the year (if you want to count just two wins straight) and losing streaks of six, four, five, three, five, three and eight. The lack of knowing how to win that shows in that rundown sure shows when you watch them too.

Jordan Clarkson (left plantar fasciitis), Taylor Hendricks (right fibula fracture), Collin Sexton (left ankle sprain) and Cody Williams (left ankle sprain) were all out. Clarkson and Sexton each average over 15 points per game, Hendricks was a starter to begin the year and Williams was Utah’s top selection in this year’s draft.

The Jazz got there offensively with 25 offensive rebounds for 27 second-chance points, 21 of which came after the first half. They had 62 points in the paint to the Suns’ 30.

“We secure a few rebounds and that game is put away,” Booker said.

This was the latest damning Suns effort that felt like two evenly-matched teams against a far inferior opponent, and also had a nostalgic element to it. Booker in the first half was 8-of-12 for 22 points while his teammates combined to shoot 12-of-35 (34.3%) for the Suns to be tied at halftime. Utah got out to a 20-8 lead, full of botched rotations on defense and hardly any connectivity. The Jazz managed that 55-55 scoreline shooting 39.6%.

Utah extended a lead to four a bit into the third quarter when the rookie starting point guard Collier had his 13th assist already with 8:33 on the clock. Collier, an uber-talented prospect who slid to the end of the first round because of a subpar year at USC, was capitalizing on the lackluster team defense.

Phoenix scored 35 points in the second quarter and 40 in the next frame to lead by five, an indicting lack of a cushion that speaks to the defensive performance.

The separation grew to 13 at that aforementioned point before the wheels predictably fell off.

Budenholzer extended the rotation to 10, including point guard Monte Morris, wing/big Bol Bol and wing Damion Lee. Morris has mostly been out of it while Bol and Lee have hardly had any opportunities all year.

Morris has played well when he has gotten a chance while Bol and Lee in the last two seasons have had their moments providing a spark too. Bol had a good stretch at the end of the first half with a block, floater and 3 that earned him the first minutes off the bench in the second half. He finished with 12 points and three blocks in 24 minutes.

New acquisitions Cody Martin and Vasa Micic were out, with the Jusuf Nurkic trade just becoming official on Thursday night. Martin had missed Charlotte’s previous seven games due to a sports hernia, so he could be out quite a while longer.

While Utah is a giant team, things like rookie center Oso Ighodaro remaining out of the rotation will continue to be more and more puzzling as the year goes on. Mason Plumlee has been better the last few weeks but there is hardly a difference, if at all, to the quality of minutes, even with Plumlee knowing all the veteran ins and outs.

Phoenix drafted Ighodaro for a reason and is not your usual second-round pick. The Suns used legitimately valuable assets to them in order to select him and Ighodaro was a four-year player at Marquette, with a lot of his appeal being as an NBA-ready guy. He primarily switched in college on defense, so playing drop coverage has been an adjustment, but you know what will help him learn faster? Playing!

In an extension of that point, Plumlee bizarrely closed over Nick Richards, who produced 12 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in 23 minutes. He will also get better with the intricacies of his role if he can play in closing moments. Budenholzer attributed that to his own coaching feel and Plumlee being more familiar with the Suns’ system.

That is a small example of the type of mindset change the Suns should have with how they approach the next two months.

Allen took a charge from Utah big John Collins in the third quarter, and in the process, also took Collins’ head to his mouth. Allen needed a towel for his bleeding mouth after and went to the locker room for his tooth going up through his lip. He returned to end up with seven made 3s for 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block. His effort continues to stand out through the Suns’ lulls.

Allen joked afterward that the locker room was “not toxic at all” in celebration, alluding to the report of toxicity in the locker room that came on Thursday. He mentioned earlier that he felt the team was very connected throughout, especially at the end, the type of feeling we’ve mentioned in this space for a while that the Suns can build off through the sludge if there is consistency with it.

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