The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A SMILING Deandre Ayton clutched the game ball during his post game press conference to commemorate a personal career milestone but also added that team success remains the ultimate goal.

Ayton scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Wednesday night’s 125-116 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Matched up against Karl Anthony-Towns, Ayton limited the three-time All- Star to 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“I’m not playing against that team, I’m playing thinking about the playoffs, getting myself ready for the playoffs. Working on what action to take when teams get off to a good start on us, focusing and narrowing down because we’ve been here a thousand times. That’s what teams have to understand, maybe you’ve never had your arena this loud but we show it again and again, we’re very poised as a team.”

In a contentious matchup between two teams destined for the playoffs, the game featured eight technical fouls and two flagrant fouls between the teams.

“We love it, because it’s really getting us prepared,” Ayton said. “Not having our floor general out there you know has given us different looks and building confidence in other players like Sham [Landry Shamet] and Holiday [Aaron Holiday] giving us plays off the bench to help us win. Guys are ready to play no matter who’s on the floor.”

Ayton’s previous career high was 33 points scored against Denver Nuggets in 2018. He credited head coach Monty Williams and the entire staff for the support and encouragement to remain aggressive.

“Since day one he’s been on my tail to be aggressive on the offensive end, I’m just trying to be that threat and do things I’m capable of doing,” Williams said. “He’s seen it in me, he has confidence in me, so do all the other guys on the team and the coaches, so when they really give me the green light to dominate like that - it’s really every night they give me the green light, I just have to be ready and be consistent with it.”

Ayton shot 14-24 from the field on Saturday night.

“I’m happy for him but I’m also pleased as to how he did it,” head coach Monty Williams said of Ayton.

“It wasn’t a throw me the ball and let me go get mine. He did it within the scheme of what we do.”

Due in large part to the play of Ayton and the emergence of Devin Booker as a legitimate MVP candidate, the Suns have gone 11-4 since an injury to 12 time All-Star point guard Chris Paul.

The Suns are now 59-14 on the season, the no.1 overall seed in the Western Conference by nine games, with nine games remaining.

Phoenix needs one win — or a Memphis loss — to wrap up home-court advantage for the entire playoffs.