NBA 2018-19: 3 talking points from San Antonio Spurs' win over Phoenix Suns

The San Antonio Spurs had a bounce-back win against the Phoenix Suns, beating them in the second game of the four-game series. The Spurs clinched an impressive 111-86 victory over the lowly Suns and now lead the series 2-1, with one more clash left. They restricted the Suns to a season-low output for an opponent.

With this rout of the Suns, the Spurs have now won three straight of their six-game homestand and have a breakeven 14-14 (0.500) record for the 10th spot in the Western Conference leaderboard.

In the aftermath of this match, the Suns have dropped to a league-worst 4-24 win-loss record, and have now lost 10 games in a row.

Let's dive into the key takeaways from the Spurs' wire-to-wire win against the miserable Suns.

---

#1 Bryn Forbes scores a season-high 24 points and a career-best 11 rebounds

Bryn Forbes went undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft.

Bryn Forbes shot 8 of 14 from the floor in the 32 minutes he was active, and recorded his first career double-double. He finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds, 3 dimes and a steal to his name.

"That's important to me," Forbes said. "I've been playing my whole life and to accomplish something I've never accomplished is always pretty cool, but to get the win was bigger. We needed this win worse than I needed a double-double."

An undrafted free agent out of Michigan State, Forbes was expectedly delighted to see his scoreline after the game ended. Listed at just 6-foot-3, he has been averaging 11.5 ppg for the past 10 games, and he clearly let go of his inhibitions in this one against the Suns to drop a season-high score.

Forbes matched a career high with five 3-pointers as well, shooting a perfect 5-5 from downtown.

On the other hand, DeMar DeRozan was held to a season-low five points. But the 4-time All-Star acted as a facilitator, setting up six three-point shots in just the first half. Four of DeRozan's assists in the first half were to Forbes.

Another recently surfaced awe-inspiring stat about Forbes is that he has scored in double figures in 21 games this season, the most by an undrafted player.

#2 The Spurs destroy the Suns from the three-point land

The San Antonio Spurs are a high percentage 3-point shooting team

The Spurs are second in the league this season with a 3-point conversion rate of 38.9%, which shows that they are making more of their three-point shots than most teams in the league.

Against the Suns, they attempted just 21 shots from beyond the arc but made 13 of those (aided by Forbes' perfect 5-5 night from deep), giving them an approximate 62% success rate for their long-shot in this game. It was interesting to see that they shot better from the three-point region than they did from the field (49.4%), and most of the credit for that goes to Pop's old-school mentality.

He has repeatedly voiced his displeasure at the growing domination of the long-range shot in the league. Therefore, he motivates his team to only take shots from the deep which they think they can make.

Patty Mills, Dante Cunnigham, Pondexter and Forbes all ended the game with a 100% shooting night from a distance, and San Antonio finished one shy of their season-high for 3s.

#3 TJ Warren takes the initiative in Devin Booker's absence

TJ has been averaging 17.4 ppg this season.

Devin Booker missed his fifth straight game due to a strained left hamstring. Another leading scorer in Jamal Crawford couldn't see the floor in Tuesday's loss due to knee soreness.

The stage was set for TJ Warren to take charge, and he did not disappoint. TJ dropped a team-high 23 points, committing just one turnover in the process. He was one of the only three players from the Suns' roster to score in double-digits, the others being Ayton (12) and Melton (17).

Warren shot 9 of 16 from the floor, remaining scot-free (4-4) from the FT line, but could net just one three-pointer out of the five shots he attempted. Despite an off night from long-range, he is shooting a career-high 43% from deep this season.

Warren and Booker were considered one of the most underrated back-courts in the league, and many thought the integration of No. 1 draft pick DeAndre Ayton would do wonders for the team as a whole. But unfortunately for them, the fairytale hasn't unfolded the way many thought it would.