Cameron Payne continues strong play with season-high 12 assists in Suns loss

Cameron Payne was hard on himself about four turnovers in the Suns' one-point home loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday.

Most other people who either watched the game or looked at Payne's single-game statistics season would believe he had his best performance compared to his 21 others. That includes the 12 total games through Friday that Payne's replaced Phoenix's injured All-Star Chris Paul (right heel soreness).

In 37 minutes, Payne reached his second double-double of 20 points on 8-of-12 field goals, game-high 12 assists, and the latter two stats are Payne's season-best. Payne's four steals was another game-high, which also tied his highest mark since the Suns beat Houston in their first meeting on Oct. 30, and his four 3s matched the same amount from his backcourt mate Devin Booker (41 points) in the loss.

Payne's averages have jumped to 16 points and 7.1 assists per game, up from 10.8 points and 3.5 assists since Chris Paul has been out. Payne is Paul's primary backup at point guard.

"I like his aggressiveness. He had 12 assists and 20 points, and I probably played him about six or seven minutes more than I wanted to," Suns coach Monty Williams said in the postgame. "But we needed a ball handler in the game to help out when we took Book out. So I thought he was really good tonight."

However, Williams had a terse response when The Republic asked him if Payne's solid production in Paul's absence could factor into whether the Suns might give their All-Star point guard more recovery time.

“It has nothing to do with Chris’ recovery, Cam playing," Williams said. "Chris’ deal is based on his health, that’s it."

Payne told the media that his turnovers cancel out his other stellar numbers.

“I don’t like it. We ain’t win and I had four turnovers," Payne said. "The night wasn’t good at all. If we win, night good. If not, it ain’t good. We had 17 turnovers and I had four. I can’t have no turnovers. That’s just plain and simple. It’s not on Coach (Monty Williams), I gotta make a better pass, better read."

Game recap: 5 takeaways as Rockets stun Suns, snap season-long 6-game win streak

Payne's take demonstrates his point guard mentality that the offense starts from him, and nothing else matters to him if he's not taking care of the ball.

Although he was the game's most efficient shooter on the floor besides Rockets starting center Alperen Sengun (13 points, 5-of-7 FG), Payne's eyes were fixated downward toward the game's stat sheet when he sat at the table during the postgame media session. He was frustrated by the nail-biting loss, which broke the Suns' six-game win streak. They missed four missed shots, including his left corner 3, and had two offensive rebounds and a steal by Damion Lee (10 points, five rebounds) near the Suns' basket during the final 19 seconds.

“That was tough man, wish we would’ve hit. Wish we would’ve hit and kept the streak going. We got some goodlooks though," Payne said.

He had that Suns' hottest hand who shot 7-of-8 through the fourth quarter's 9:35 mark when the Suns were up by 12, and then missed his next two attempts from the perimeter and his only two free throws.

One miss came when Payne pushed the ball in transition and pulled up for a deep right wing 3 and missed at 8:03 as Houston trimmed the Suns' lead to seven. Then Payne didn't connect on his free throws just seconds later in the Suns' next possession.

The Rockets continued to go on a 12-2 run to shave Phoenix's lead to two, during which Payne threw an errant pass stolen by Bruno Fernando (14 points, team-high seven rebounds) around the seven-minute mark.

Williams took responsibility for Payne's mistake.

“I thought the one turnover I put him in a tough situation, he was looking for the pass to Jock (Landale). And sometimes when you tell a guy to look for a certain player, they try to do what you ask them to do," Williams said. "He could’ve been aggressive on that. I put him in that position."

Payne intercepted a pass by Jalen Green (30 points) on Houston's next possession at 6:45, but after Fernando got two consecutive dunks, and Booker getting a layup in between them, the Rockets took the lead by two from a layup by Jabari Smith Jr. (17 points, six rebounds) around five minutes left to play.

Payne got his last steal off another bad pass by Houston's point guard Kevin Porter Jr. (15 points, six rebounds, team-best seven assists, game-high six turnovers) at 3:49. Then Payne committed his last turnover three Suns' possessions later when he threw an errant pass picked off by Green near mid-court as the Suns trailed by two at 2:42. Payne immediately redeemed himself when he rushed back and took a charge in the paint that was called on Green's fast-break layup.

The Rockets went up six after Porter Jr. hit all three free throws from his 3-attempted foul call on Mikal Bridges in their subsequent possession, and Booker hit a three on an assist from Payne with 1:24 left thereafter.

Payne hit arguably the biggest shot of the night when he sank a 27-footer assisted by Booker to tie the game at 121-121.

The next time Houston got the ball, Bridges was called for his fifth foul and Green made the first to put his team ahead and missed the second at 28 seconds left, and Damion Lee (10 points) got a defensive rebound. Payne and Williams both said after the game the Suns didn't call their final timeout to design an ATO play because that would've granted time for Houston to set up their best defenders against it.

That's when the Suns' four final misses occurred.

Payne attributed the Rockets' comeback from as far as down 16 with the four minutes left in the third quarter to outdueling Phoenix in second-chance opportunities (13 to nine in offensive rebounding) and getting to the line more (43 to 19).

Even though Payne's shooting somewhat tapered in the final period, Williams believed Payne added equilibrium to their team's overall performance against the Suns and all season.

"When he took those shots, he had one three on the right wing and I thought we could’ve held it and got a better shot in transition, but he was feeling it a little bit," Williams said. "Again, I love his balance. I love what he’s done for our team. He got us organized in a number of situations (on Friday night).”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Monty Williams lauds Cameron Payne's performance in Suns' loss to Rockets