PHOENIX _ For the first time in this young season, the Nets put together back-to-back victories, following a home win over the 76ers on Sunday with a second straight dominant performance in a 104-82 throttling of the Suns on Tuesday night at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
The win improved the Nets' record to 5-6, which is their best 11-game start since 2012-13 when they went 7-4. More importantly, it showed progress by the regime of general manager Sean Marks and coach Kenny Atkinson as they start their third season, and it reinforced signs that early-season optimism might be warranted.
The Nets had an early 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and saw it shrink to 10, but back-to-back 3s by Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris, who extended his streak to 26 games with at least one made 3, ignited a 12-4 push that gave them their biggest lead to that point at 92-74.
Caris LeVert topped the Nets with 26 points, Spencer Dinwiddie had 12, D'Angelo Russell had 15 points and six assists, Harris scored 11, and Ed Davis had 12 rebounds to go with nine points. The Nets controlled the paint by a 54-30 margin, and they forced 20 Suns turnovers leading to 21 Nets points.
Devin Booker topped the Suns (2-8) with 20 points but had to work for it on 6-for-21 shooting, No. 1 overall draft pick DeAndre Ayton had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Richaun Holmes added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
After scoring a 25-point home win over Philadelphia on Sunday, the Nets were anxious to see if they could take a little mojo on the road. With a four-game trip that includes games at Denver and defending champion Golden State, the two best Western Conference teams in the young season, it seemed the Suns offered the best chance for a win even though they just broke a seven-game losing streak with a win over Memphis.
Defining the task before the game, Atkinson said, "How do we respond after a good win? How do we approach this game? What's our maturity level like? Transition defense is huge as always for us. It's an area where we've got to get better. We're 28th in the league in defensive rebounding so if we don't take care of that and give them extra possessions, it will be a long night."
The Nets struggled early with their shooting touch, but they put together a 14-3 run spanning the end of the first quarter and the start of the second to grab a 33-25 edge. Backup center Ed Davis had seven points in that stretch when Jarrett Allen had some foul trouble.
Toward the end of the second period, the Nets had another 13-4 offensive burst that began when Russell hit a left-wing 3-pointer as the shot clock expired, and he also made a steal for a fast-break layup in that span as their lead grew to 14 points. The half ended with the Nets on top at 52-42, including a whopping 28-10 advantage in points in the paint. Just as they did against the 76ers, the Nets forced 12 Suns turnovers, leading to 11 first-half Nets points and showing they are learning to become more active on defense.
In the third period, the Nets quickly pushed their lead to 15 points, but No. 1 overall draft pick Ayton began to assert himself, scoring six straight points in the middle of a 14-4 Suns run that cut their deficit to 63-58. That was a critical moment, and the Nets responded with an 11-2 burst that included 3-pointers by former Sun Jared Dudley, LeVert and Dinwiddie to restore a 74-60 cushion that shrank to 76-66 heading to the final period.
