Ryan Dunn Finds Efficient Points Inside Phoenix’s Uneven Exhibition

Ryan Dunn made all six of his field-goal attempts Wednesday night, and every one was a two-point basket. The Phoenix forward finished with 15 points, added three free throws, two blocks and a steal, and gave the Suns one tidy offensive clue in a 123-103 preseason loss to San Antonio.

Dunn’s scoring came without a three-point attempt. That is a useful detail in an exhibition where Phoenix made only seven threes from 31 attempts: he found points without depending on the part of the offense that was struggling. The perfect shooting line deserves attention even though the lineup makes a broad verdict on the Suns premature.

The game coverage highlighted a finish after a roll toward the basket and another Dunn created in transition. Those are two different sources of value. One makes him a target for a teammate’s pass; the other gives him an opportunity before the possession becomes a settled half-court attack. Neither requires a night of difficult perimeter shooting.

Neither requires Phoenix to redesign its offense around him. That matters for a player trying to establish himself amid more established scorers. Dunn’s six makes all came from inside the arc, and he did not force a perimeter role into a game in which the Suns shot 7-for-31 from 3-point range.

His offensive-foul turnover with 10:12 remaining in the third quarter was a blemish, but it was also his only turnover.

The scoreboard offered a much less flattering picture. Phoenix led 23-22 after one quarter, then San Antonio produced 38 points in the second while holding the Suns to 26. The Spurs took a 60-49 lead into halftime and extended it to 92-75 after three quarters.

Phoenix was already facing a substantial deficit before the last quarter, even if the exhibition’s purpose was evaluation rather than standings.

That evaluation was tilted from the start. Phoenix held out Collin Gillespie, Devin Booker and Oso Ighodaro, along with Miles Bridges, Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, while San Antonio played its regular starters, including Victor Wembanyama. A reserve-heavy Suns group was therefore asked to solve a Spurs lineup with its primary interior presence on the floor.

It is possible to value Dunn’s individual efficiency while admitting that his surroundings bore little resemblance to a regular-season configuration.

Jamaree Bouyea supplied 15 points as well, with eight assists and only two turnovers. Those passing numbers offer another specific positive from the reserve-heavy lineup. Creating an assisted basket is useful; doing it without repeatedly handing the ball back is more useful still. Bouyea’s distribution and Dunn’s finishing were contributions Phoenix could appreciate separately from the final margin.

The Spurs’ advantages also exposed why one efficient scorer could not rescue Phoenix. Wembanyama finished with 19 points and four blocks. Stephon Castle scored 18 while making 14 of 15 free throws, a sharp contrast to Phoenix’s 12-for-15 team mark.

San Antonio made 13 3-pointers to the Suns’ seven and outrebounded Phoenix. Phoenix did generate 64 points in the paint, but the Spurs’ advantages at the line and beyond the arc gave them scoring returns Phoenix could not match.

There is a fair argument that Dunn’s night deserves a discount. He was working without most of Phoenix’s main offensive structure, and an exhibition against an unevenly matched lineup cannot establish how consistently those chances will appear once the stakes rise. Still, the specific skills on display are easier to imagine carrying forward than a hot shooting night built on difficult jumpers.

Dunn finished the evening as a candidate worth continuing to examine: a forward who can roll, run into transition space and turn limited touches into efficient points. That does not predict a rotation spot. It does give Phoenix a practical question to keep asking before the regular season: how much can those interior possessions add when the rest of the offense is intact?

Sources

ESPN: box score and play-by-play

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