Suns flash some defense in ugly win over Bulls

CHICAGO - You look at the 77 points the Suns held the Bulls to in Sunday’s unspectacular matinee at United Center and instinctively raise your eyebrows.

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Has the light switch flipped on for the Phoenix defense? After holding Cleveland to 39 points in the second half Friday and then limiting Chicago to a horr-a-Bull 34.7 percent shooting performance in an 88-77 win, are the Suns finally taking keen notice of the other end of the floor?

Not so fast. Already the worst-shooting team in the league (42.3 percent coming in) the Bulls were missing their top two scorers, Ben Gordon (19.6 points per game) and Luol Deng (17.9) due to injury. And the same lineup Chicago had on the floor against Phoenix managed exactly 77 points Friday in a blowout home loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

Somebody at ABC deserves a gold star for taking this game off the national TV schedule. While the replacement game (Boston-Orlando) was close, compelling and ended with a game-winning 30-footer from the Magic’s Hedo Turkoglu, this yawner ended in a flurry of turnovers and missed layups, mostly by the inept Bulls.

Someone had to win a messy game that featured 38 turnovers and 30 missed 3-pointers — 20 of them by the Suns, who looked like they took full advantage of a Saturday night off in Chicago for the first three quarters.

But give Phoenix credit for a 12-0 fourth-quarter run that closely resembled cohesion at times and took what little fight was left out of the Bulls.

“People don’t give us credit for our defense yet, but we’re doing things that are going to help us in the future,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It was a tough game after the emotional win in Cleveland and we weren’t very sharp and they play us very hard.”

But at 17-26, playing hard isn’t getting the Bulls very far. Take away the 31 points on 12-of-23 shooting from Kirk Hinrich — who also made life tough on Steve Nash (six turnovers) on the other end — and the rest of Chicago managed 46 points and made just 21 of their 72 shots (29 percent).

After hitting 17 to beat Cleveland, the 3-ball wasn’t falling for Phoenix this time (5-for-25) and the fast break produced only 12 points, forcing the Suns to slug out a win the old-fashioned way, which isn’t their strong suit but wasn’t overly tough this time.

“It was definitely an ugly game, but we were able to win it defensively,” said Amaré Stoudemire, who led the Suns with 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting. “It was a rough one out there. We’re not used to playing this time of day. You have to have a lot of heart to win games like this.”

Shawn Marion made a reappearance to the flow with 15 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high six steals — some on passes that almost appeared to be intended for him. Leandro Barbosa had eight of his 13 points off the bench when the Suns held the Bulls to two points in the first 6:47 of the fourth quarter and stretched a four-point lead to 16.

“We locked them down defensively and finally hit some shots,” said Marion, who had more than 40 friends and relatives in the stands. “We were able to build a good cushion and close it out. It was a nice way to finish a road trip.”

The Suns are 7-2 on their last two Eastern road trips, with both losses coming at the hands of 8-35 Minnesota.

Suns spots

Did you see that? The Suns won a game scoring less than 90 points (88-77) for the first time since Dec. 9, 2005, when they beat the Knicks 85-81 in Phoenix.

Player of the game: Shawn Marion was much more active after back-to-back struggles with 15 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high six steals. Marion took 15 shots after taking just seven in the past two games combined.

Unsung hero: Leandro Barbosa had 13 points off the bench on 5-for-8 shooting and had eight straight early in the fourth quarter — a layup and two 3-pointers — to give the Suns a commanding 12-point lead that stood up.

Thumbs up: The Bulls don’t have a lot of offense, but the Suns deserve some of the credit for holding the Bulls to .347 shooting (33-for-95) and forcing 16 turnovers. The 77 points scored by Chicago was the fewest by a Suns opponent since Houston managed just 75 in a 100-75 loss (Feb. 16, 2006).

Thumbs down: This one wasn’t pretty. The Suns were playing an afternoon game at the end of a road trip and looked it, missing 20 of their 25 3-point attempts, getting outrebounded 52-38 and allowing 18 offensive rebounds. But when a team misses 62 shots, they will get some second chances.