The sun rises on O’Neale’s efficiency in the win over the Lakers

On By Littum

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The brilliant efficiency of Royce O’Neale helps solidify Phoenix Suns‘ team culture and identity in their first four games.

O’Neale produced 12 points (4-of-9 shooting, 2-of-4 from 3), nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one turnover in 24 minutes off the bench, resulting in his game-high plus-25 in Monday’s 109-105 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

He has compiled an NBA-best plus-71 through four games, tied with the defending champion Boston Celtics’ Derrick White. O’Neale is averaging 7.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and one block per game. Most notably, O’Neale has team-high 86.8 defensive rating and 34.6 net rating.

“It’s all the little things that go along the way,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “It’s getting loose balls, getting rebounds, it’s fighting through screens, verticality at the rim, getting to second acts offensively, just keeping things going.

“There’s a lot of little subtle things that go into winning and Royce really understands them and does that night after night. He’s been super, super impactful for us.”

O’Neale helped the Big 3 of Devin Booker (33 points), Kevin Durant (30 points) and Bradley Beal (15 points) in the nail-biting fourth. He scored five points, grabbed four of his seven total defensive rebounds and was a plus-10.

O’Neale’s defensive stops also helped the Suns in the open floor, leading to a 21-8 advantage in fast-break points.

What Royce O’Neale thought of the comeback

“I think let’s just stick together and keep calm,” O’Neale said. “They got out to a lead, early in the game, and we held on to it the whole game. We got stops when we needed to, and of course important rebounds to finish on the other end.”

The Suns started the fourth quarter down seven, but went on a 14-3 run to take the lead.

During that stretch, O’Neale had an assist, a 3 to tie at 84, grabbed two boards and blocked a layup attempt by Anthony Davis. He made Davis earn his points at the line by fouling him in the post on the second attempt.

O’Neale helped guard LeBron James and helped hold him to just 11 points and 21.4% on his field goal attempts, his worst shooting performance in the regular season since his all-time low of 18.2% on Halloween 2007.

“It was a group effort. Brad started on him, then I’ll come in, Ryan (Dunn),” O’Neale said. “Everybody that guarded him, I think we’re connected, we know they love to attack the basket as a team, so we try to take them away. easily look for them.”

A key to many elite teams of recent vintage is a physical enforcer and Swiss Army knife, such as the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and the 2021 Suns’ Jae Crowder.

O’Neale has filled that much-needed role since being dealt to Phoenix at least at the offseason trade deadline.

Royce O’Neale’s impact on the Phoenix Suns

“Big time, we live off those moments. It’s a whole team effort,” O’Neale said. “I think it just shows how much we want to win games, how connected we are with each other. Every possession counts and we don’t take possessions away.”

The Suns signed O’Neale in February when general manager James Jones described O’Neale’s style with the term “winning plays.”

In 30 Suns games after they acquired O’Neale, the 31-year-old boosted them to a team-high positive-9.4 net rating when he was on the floor. Phoenix was a team-worst negative-4.1 when he was on the bench.

The Suns re-signed O’Neale to a $44 million extension in July.

During the Suns’ home opener win over Dallas on Saturday, O’Neale mirrored James’ description of him by making a layup in transition in the final seconds of the third quarter. He then bolted for a chase-down block on Jaden Hardy before the buzzer that ignited the crowd.

“That play from the last game, make a layup on one end and a block on the other end within three to four seconds,” Booker said. “Just all the intangibles, and at the same time will knock down the open shot when he needs to. He’s really important to our team.”

Even in the Suns’ preseason 109-91 home loss to Detroit on Oct. 11, O’Neale battled Ron Holland II on the floor in a heated tug-of-war jump-of-war situation. Rising from the football-like dog pile, O’Neale lifted the ball to the roaring crowd like a gladiator.

Suns fans are finding that’s just how Royce rolls.