Was Landry Shamet's record 3-point shooting night for Phoenix Suns a sign of things to come?

Landry Shamet tied the Suns’ single-game record by hitting nine 3s in their three-point home loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.

He’s now in the same group as his injured teammate Cameron Johnson and former Suns Aaron Baynes, Channing Frye and Quentin Richardson.

Johnson and Shamet are the only two among those five players who made nine 3s off the bench. Their ninth 3-pointer both came at the game-ending buzzer, but with far different results.

Johnson’s ninth was in his 38-point effort to beat New York at the buzzer on March 4 last season, which ended in euphoria as the Suns and their home crowd celebrated the stunning win.

Shamet’s ninth also was made at the buzzer to cap his career-high 31 points. But Phoenix was down by six when he launched it his final shot trimmed the Wizards’ winning margin to three. There was no celebrating after this one at Footprint Center.

Shamet downplayed the record-tying achievement when asked about it by The Republic after the game.

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“All that’s cool, whatever, but we lost the game. It’s not about what I or anybody did,” Shamet said. “It’s what we collectively didn’t do as a team. How do we look at that and how can we change and build upon? We have a group that’s super competitive, hates losing.”

Shamet’s previous two performances were in Phoenix’s home rout of Chicago on Nov. 30, in which he had 12 points (4-of-7 shooting, all from deep), and the Suns’ road win at Minnesota on Nov. 9, when he finished with 16 points (5-of-7 FG). After the Minnesota game, Shamet missed the next seven games while in concussion protocols..

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Suns coach Monty Williams praised Shamet’s outing, noting he's also one of their best defenders.

“He was stellar. He’s starting to play the kind of free basketball that we like in him to play,” Williams said.

“Just aggressive coming off not just shooting 3s but getting to the basket, playing in the midrange, and defensively he’s been one of our best guys getting over screens, staying in front of the ball. On a back-to-back to have that kind of effort, it was huge, and we needed every bit of it tonight.”

Deandre Ayton was the only other Sun who shot well Tuesday, posting 30 points (12-of-20 shooting) and got a game-high 13 rebounds.

“Landry played his tail off on both ends. Just really gave us that confidence to run these big plays for a three,” Ayton said. “Every time he shot the ball, we almost stand up and are just like, ‘Go in.’ We know how he can shoot; at the same time, coach put him in that position and he did his thing.”

The Suns' starters scored a combined 23 points and their bench chipped in seven to lead Washington, 30-27 after the first quarter. But their starters went cold and managed just one point among them in the second, and Shamet had 11 including three made from the perimeter to help keep the game close as the Suns trailed by five entering halftime.

Williams said after their win over the Lakers on Monday that Shamet is one of their backup point guards, along with the injured Cameron Payne (foot), who was the primary backup when Chris Paul was out for an extended period with heel soreness.

Shamet, who’s usually a backup two guard to the injured Devin Booker (groin), got four of his five assists in the final period. He initiated their much of the offense and Paul was more off the ball.

The Wizards outscored Phoenix 21-2 from 5:35 to 22.2 left to play before Landry Shamet put up nine of the Suns’ final 10 points, including three 3s.

Shamet said he didn’t want to make excuses for the Suns defense breaking down in the final five minutes, or the team being tired in the second game of a back-to-back and playing three games in four days.

Instead, he gave the Wizards credit for beating the Suns to snap their 10-game skid.

“It’s not like those guys are bad players by any stretch. They have some guys over there that can score the ball. Obviously, they have struggled as of late, but it is the NBA,” Shamet said. “Bradley Beal and Kyle Kuzma and all these guys have proven they can score the ball. That is what they did down the stretch.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns coach Monty Williams praises Landry Shamet on record shooting night