The Suns were missing three of their starters due to injury as they tipped-off against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.
With no Devin Booker, T.J. Warren or Tyson Chandler, the team would once again look to Josh Jackson to provide the spark for the team. The rookie knew it was not going to be an easy matchup without the three of his teammates.
“I get a couple more shots that I normally wouldn’t get,” Jackson said. “It really hurts not having them of course, missed all of their scoring, all of the energy, and their defense.”
Although the Suns battled hard in the first half and kept the game close, the Pistons came out hot in the third quarter and went on a run.
“I feel like they just made shots,” Jackson said. “We didn’t do a good job of getting the shots that we wanted on the other end of the floor and I think that they outrebounded us tonight.”
The Suns fought throughout the whole night, but ultimately just didn’t have the firepower as they fell to the Pistons 115-88.
“It’s tough,” Head Coach Jay Triano said. “I thought we competed really well in the first half and then second half, you know you can only hold them so long.”
Jackson once again put up a solid all-around game scoring 15 points to go along with his 11 rebounds.
“Josh is going to do what he does,” Alex Len. “He’s always going to be aggressive, great on the open court and is always going to play hard.”
Len has a tough matchup against Detroit’s Andre Drummond, but held his own finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He now has a team-leading ten double-doubles this season.
“I thought Len was really good. We tried to keep him in the game as much as we could,” Triano said. “I liked the way Alex played. He was solid on the glass and rolling to the basket.”
Len now has at least ten double-doubles in four straight seasons and is the first Suns player to do so since Steve Nash in eight straight from 2004-2012.
“I felt good,” Len said. “Teammates were finding me today. I just tried to find open spots on offense and make sure to get my teammates open. They were just looking to find me back.”
The Suns will hit the road as they travel to Cleveland for their next matchup against the Cavaliers. Catch the action on Fox Sports Arizona.