Jalen Green scored 31 points, including 20 in the first half, as the Phoenix Suns cruised past the Utah Jazz 134-109 on Saturday, March 28.
In a postgame walk-off interview, Green emphasized the role of defense in his performance: “It started with defense. Team challenged me to pick up full court majority game. And I think that’s what got me going. Got my energy going. So yeah it always starts with defense for the whole team too.”
Green also highlighted the Suns’ offensive cohesion, saying, “Offensively I mean just moving the ball, playing with pace, playing fast, got on a run and getting stops. Obviously, you know starts all of that. But yeah just getting a good shot every time down and run our offense and staying together.”
The Suns, who had lost six of their previous seven games, used a 21-2 first-quarter run to open a 37-17 lead, with Green scoring 11 points and hitting three of Phoenix’s eight three-pointers in the quarter.
Reflecting on the significance of the win before a four-game road trip, Green said, “Oh super important especially going on to the road. Give us a little bit of energy a little bit of fighting towards the road trip. You know road trips are never easy. So getting a good win like this is a good start to it.”
Devin Booker added 26 points, while Grayson Allen contributed 19 and Oso Ighodaro scored 13. Khaman Maluach added 12 points and nine rebounds. Neither Green nor Booker played in the fourth quarter as the Suns maintained control.
For the Jazz, Brice Sensabaugh and Kyle Filipowski scored 26 points each, while Svi Mykhailuk added 14 and Ace Bailey scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Kennedy Chandler finished with 11 points and eight assists, but Utah struggled with turnovers and missed key players due to injuries.
Phoenix improved to 41-33, closing the gap to 3.5 games behind Houston for the sixth seed in the Western Conference. Utah dropped to 21-54, losing five straight games and seven consecutive road contests.
The Suns will face Memphis on Monday night, while the Jazz host Cleveland.
