Booker calls Suns’ Plumlee ‘high energy’ playmaker in loss to Kings

On By Littum

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The Phoenix SunsJusuf Nurkic was out with a sore right ankle in the second half of their 127-118 overtime home loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.

He had trouble guarding All-NBA big Domantas Sabonis (20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists), but Mason Plumlee made things harder for Sabonis and easier for the Suns without Nurkic.

“I thought Mason did a good job of stepping in without Nurk,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. “It takes a team effort against Sabonis on the boards, but Mason has been very good and tonight he was the same. He was good for us against Sabonis.”

Plumlee, a 12-year veteran backup, had six points, a season-high 11 rebounds and six assists, one steal and just one turnover in 26 minutes.

It was his best game in his first season with the Suns, and his assist total was second only to Booker’s team-high 12.

“He’s super energetic,” Booker said. “He’s a joy to be out on the floor with. He communicates at a high level. He runs the center position and just makes sure everyone is in their place.”

Booker added that Plumlee is a “high intelligent, high IQ big.”

Four of Plumlee’s six assists came in the second quarter, including the Suns’ first three FGs, and a 3 from Booker in the closing seconds of the half.

Two consecutive impressive dimes from Plumlee came in the earliest minutes of the second quarter. The first was a needle-threading backdoor pass to Bradley Beal (team-high 28 points, eight rebounds) from the opposite wing. The second was when Plumlee was double-teamed in the paint by Trey Lyles and De’Aaron Fox and threw a no-look pass behind his head to Ryan Dunn (eight points) to the weak side for a dunk.

“I’ve always been a good passer, so it’s just making a lot of plays and just finding guys on the floor,” Plumlee said. “Guys hit me in the pocket and I was able to get it to the weak side, ATO (after timeout), and some other things, but just playing in flow, just keeping the ball moving.”

Plumlee, 34, joined the Suns in free agency in June on a veteran’s minimum deal from the Los Angeles Clippers. Budenholzer said in October that Plumlee has been “super impactful” as a playmaker off the ball, rebounder, screener, passer and driven the offensive tempo in transition.

The Duke product is averaging 4.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and leads the Suns on 68% shooting in 17 minutes a game. In addition, his plus-21 is second on the team behind their backup forward Royce O’Neale for plus-minus.

“He’s known to do that,” Beal said. “Mason’s a guy who gets it off the boards and he wants to push it. Bigs like that love to play fast. They’re open to the backdoor moves and the DHOs (dribble handoffs).

“Bigs like that are really key for us guards because they love to get to the rim. They just love to be able to get to the next action, so that benefits us. But his ability, he’s been doing this for a long time, 10 -plus years, so none of these things surprise me.”

Sabonis gets his points no matter what. Budenholzer said before the game with Nurkic questionable because of his ankle injury that it would take a collective effort to help defend against the league’s second-best rebounder.

Despite Sabonis notching his ninth straight double-double (tied for the league’s most this season), Plumlee helped contain Sabonis late in the game.

Plumlee stripped Sabonis as he gathered on a layup in the paint, leading to a transition 3 by Allen as the Suns went on an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter. He later converted a 3-point play off a layup assisted by Booker to put the Suns up 103-97 with 4:07 left.

Although DeMar DeRozan scored 16 of his game-high 34 to take over in the fourth, Plumlee held Sabonis to just one point, two rebounds, no field goal attempts in the fourth quarter — and Sabonis ejected late.

“He’s a big, strong guy,” Plumlee said of Sabonis. “You put attention on DeMar or De’Aaron and then you look back and he’s already gained ground to get in position to rebound. You have to hit him early and he’s a positional rebounder. He’s not like a jumper, so you must win the war on earth.”

The Suns did not win the war in the first meeting of their four-game season series against the Kings. But Plumlee certainly earned respect in the frontcourt battle against their Pacific Division rival.

(This story was updated to add or change a video.)