Suns update: Chris Paul (heel) questionable, Landry Shamet (concussion) out Monday at Miami

MIAMI — Chris Paul is making his way back from missing Phoenix’s last two games with a sore right heel, but Suns head coach Monty Williams isn’t rushing his return.

“As much as he wants to get out there, there’s no way we’re going to push it in any regard,” said Suns coach Monty Williams after Sunday’s practice. “We just have to wait and see. Unless he’s 150%, we’re not going to put him on the floor.”

The Suns point guard is listed as questionable for Monday night’s game at Miami (6-7).

“When I’m able and ready to play, I’ll be out there,” Paul said.

Paul suffered the injury in the first half of last Monday’s loss at Philadelphia that began a four-game road trip. He didn’t play the second half against the 76ers and hasn’t returned to game action as the Phoenix won Wednesday at Minnesota, but lost Friday at Orlando.

“You have to manage a guy who is competitive and wants to be out there, especially after a loss,” Williams said. “It’s like, ‘Man, I want to get out there with my team,’ but we have to be smart. This could be a blessing in disguise for us as far as allowing his body to kind of heal from the first uptick of play as far as ramp up. I think it’s important to manage this the right way.”

Paul got up shots pregame Friday night, has been receiving treatment and said after Sunday’s practice the heel “feels better,” but also said he didn’t know if he’d play Monday night.

“It’s a long season,” Paul said. “So making sure I’m ready for the long haul.”

Cameron Payne has started in Paul's place. On Wednesday he scored a season-high 23, one point shy of tying his career high, and went for 22 Friday.

Playing 35 minutes each night, Payne has shot 9-of-19 from 3, racked up 12 assists and nine rebounds, but committed four turnovers against Orlando after not having one versus the Timberwolves.

"We always find a way to bounce back after a loss," Payne said. "We're just going to have to figure it out. Just ready to play. That's just our mindset."

Landry Shamet is ruled out a second straight game under concussion protocols.

Williams said Shamet started showing concussion symptoms Thursday night after scoring 16 points Wednesday.

Going 2-3 since their five-game winning streak, the Suns (8-4) are 1-2 on this road trip and coming off their worst margin of defeat this season, 114-97, at Orlando (4-9). The Suns are 2-2 without Cam Johnson, who will miss at least one to two months after suffering a torn right meniscus Nov. 4 against Portland.

“We’re just down some bodies right now, which has obviously affected us and taken us out of our units that (were) structured really well,” Suns big Jock Landale said.

The Magic were without top overall pick Paolo Banchero (left ankle sprain), but led by as many as 21 points over the Suns. Orlando shot 15-of-33 from 3, racked up 60 points in the paint and scored 16 second-chance points.

“It was a weird game, man,” Suns forward Torrey Craig said after Friday’s loss. “They had a lot of funky lineups out there, a lot of size and they just made a lot of tough shots. A couple of possessions, I thought we played good defense, but they still scored over good defense. Hats off to them, they played extremely well.”

The Suns have allowed better than 50% shooting three times during this 2-3 stretch.

11-4 L Portland, 108-106: Blazers 50.6%.

11-9 W Minnesota 129-117: T-Wolves 52.6%.

11-11 L Orlando 114-97: Magic 52.4%.

“There are some things we can do better,” Williams said. “You have to have better offense. Your offense can dictate your defense. If we’re allowing guys to play in transition to get 3s or they have what most teams would look at as mismatches, it forces you to help. We can’t allow a team that shoots in the 20s from 3 to shoot 40-plus.”

The Magic are shooting 29.5% from 3 this season, but they lit up the Suns from deep at 45.5%.

“That’s on us,” Williams said. “Give them credit, they made the shots, but we’ve got to be much better in our halfcourt defense, first-shot defense for sure. You can’t get outrebounded.”

The Suns overcame Minnesota’s shooting with the 3. They connected on 45.7% (16-of-35) of them.

Two nights later, Phoenix went 13-of-42.

This was after Phoenix traveled from Minneapolis to Tampa instead of Orlando amid Hurricane Nicole and then took a chartered bus from Tampa to Orlando.

“This trip has been a weird trip for our guys,” Williams said after Friday’s loss. “Traveling east, kind of settled with the Minnesota, but (Thursday) was a weird day just traveling all day with the hurricane and all of that. It just became, you try not to acknowledge it, but we all kind of felt it.”

Now the Suns will look to close out the road trip with a win as they’ll return home to face defending NBA champion Golden State (5-7) Wednesday before returning to the road Friday at surprising Utah (10-4).

Miami has won its last two games, both coming over Charlotte at home. The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Tyler Herro, is listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain after missing Miami’s last three games.

“They just plug-and-play,” Williams said. “These guys, they have All-Stars, champions. They’ve got an Hall of Fame coach (Erik Spoelstra), one of the best coaches in the history of the game and it starts from the top down. Coach (Pat) Riley, coach Spo and they just do what they do.”

Williams played his rookie season in New York under Riley, who is Miami’s team president.

“They don’t care about what everyone else does,” Williams said. “That’s what we respect about them and that’s what I’ve taken away from their program. It’s like, we do our thing. A lot of that comes from these guys and old-school Utah programs. They just did what they did. They didn’t care about everybody else. Miami is like that. They’re like the new ‘Men in Black.’ They just do their thing. They have their own government down here and Udonis Haslem is the ambassador of it all.”

Haslem is in his 20th NBA season that’s been spent entirely with the Heat.

“I have so much respect for him and the way he’s carried himself,” Williams said. “For 20 years now, he’s the standard of Miami basketball. When you think of Miami, you think of UD. All you got to say is UD and that’s their culture. They all kind of live and breathe it. When you watch their games, you see UD all over the place, even if he’s not on the floor. If you don’t play like he did, you probably won’t fit. That’s one of the reasons why we respect what they do here.”

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns update: Chris Paul (heel) questionable Monday night at Miami