Marcus Morris making strides in Phoenix, too
Phoenix Suns' Marcus Morris (15) makes a shot over Orlando Magic's Andrew Nicholson (44) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Years from now, when people look back at Markieff Morris’s NBA career, the 2014-15 season just might stand out as the one in which he shed the label of role player and established himself as one of the more skilled big forwards in the Western Conference.
But his twin brother and Phoenix teammate Marcus is making serious strides this season, too.
| 2014-15 Morrii stats (through 74 games) | PPG | FG% | 3% | FT% | RPG | APG | BPG | SPG | TOPG | MPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markieff Morris | 15.6 | .466 | .323 | .757 | 6.0 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 31.4 |
| Marcus Morris | 10.6 | .441 | .368 | .619 | 4.6 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 24.9 |
The real breakthrough game for Marcus — as referenced by Ben York at Suns.com — came back in February against Utah. Subbing in off the bench, he put up a career-high 34 points and a then-career-high 12 rebounds. Marcus converted 11 of his 17 field goal tries and nailed 5 of 7 3-pointers.
“He was unstoppable,” proud brother Markieff said afterward.
It marked the first time a Suns player produced at least 30 points and 10 boards off the bench since Danny Manning — one of his coaches at Kansas — had 35 points and 10 rebounds in November of 1997.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddVnwPDFCAw
York wrote the explosion served as a confirmation of what many thought about Marcus’s potential.
More recently, the less heralded Morrii has scored in double figures in 7 of his last 8 games, including 5 straight outings — a first for him this season. In that 8-game stretch, he’s averaging 15.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists, and shooting 44.4% from the floor and 32.7% from 3-point range (just 50% from the foul line).
His playing time has increased of late due to some injury problems for the Suns, and Marcus hasn’t forgotten that with his contributions.
“It’s not really about me,” Morris
told Suns.com. “It’s about what coach
needs and what the team needs. We have
a lot of talent on this team and we’re
fighting to get into the playoffs.“We all have to step our game up and
stick together.”
Phoenix (38-36), which lost a critical matchup with Oklahoma City (42-32) Sunday night, currently sits outside of the playoff picture in the West, in 10th place. The Suns have lost 3 straight games and have just 8 games left to try and surpass both New Orleans (39-34) and the Thunder for the final postseason berth available.
“He’s been big for us,” Phoenix coach
Jeff Hornacek said of Marcus. “With
some of the guys injured, we’ve needed
that boost in scoring and energy. He’s
hit some big shots and starting to
find a rhythm. He’s been one of the
more consistent guys the last couple
weeks and we’ll need that in these
final (eight) games.”
Clearly, Hornacek respects Marcus, even if they had an in-game disagreement earlier this season.
Do the Suns have a run in them? Well, their end-of-season schedule is pretty brutal, featuring at least seven playoff teams and both regular-season conference champions.
Phoenix’s final regular-season games are: at Portland (47-25), at Golden State (60-13), vs. Utah (32-41), at Atlanta (55-18), at Dallas (45-29), at New Orleans (39-34), at San Antonio (47-26) and vs. the Los Angeles Clippers (49-25).
If the Suns squeeze into the playoffs after that, the Morris twins’ reputations will continue taking off.
— Keep up with the production of all the ‘Hawks in the NBA daily at KUsports.com.