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By AUSTEN BROWNE
Cronkite News

PHOENIX — Ever since the Golden State Warriors’ innovative “Death Lineup” started terrorizing the NBA during the 2015 season, teams have been searching endlessly for a small-ball squad to dethrone the defending champions.

Having five lightning-fast perimeter players on the court at once is being considered a new era of basketball, and a far cry from the long, tall giants that dominated the game previously.

The Phoenix Suns are rewinding the clock a bit.

“The length of the guys is great,” Suns interim head coach Jay Triano said. “If you got (Devin) Booker at the point, and Josh (Jackson) and T.J. (Warren) at the wings, Tyson (Chandler) behind and Marquese (Chriss), that’s as long as we can possibly be at all positions.”

With Booker listed at 6 feet 6 and Jackson and Warren at 6’8’’, the Suns boast a towering perimeter that has gone plus-12 on the floor together in the month of January, impressive considering the woes the team has gone through all season long.

The change in fortune has a lot to do with the switch to point guard by Booker, whose team-leading 24.1 points per game commands most of the attention on the court. This frees up teammates for easy buckets.

“It opens up a lot of cuts for me and T.J. and a lot of screens away from the ball that guys don’t really see because they’re paying so much attention to Book,” Jackson said. “That lineup has been pretty good for us. I like it.”

Playing shooting guard in college and most of his professional career, Booker has had to adjust to running the Suns offense and having the ball constantly in his hands. He has responded well, averaging a career-high 4.9 assists a game.

“Booker is a guy who can do some of everything,” Jackson said. “He can score, he can facilitate, he can handle the ball. Having him bring the ball up makes the defense really pay attention to the ball a lot more because of who has it.”

Booker’s partners in crime, Jackson and Warren, have pulled their weight as well. The duo use their size advantage and physicality to bully opponents on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor, both averaging double digit points per game.

“Those guys are super athletes, especially the level that Josh is playing at right now,” Booker said. “He is defending well, getting out in transition, running and getting easy looks.”

Jackson has experienced the most drastic change with this new lineup. The switch from forward to guard is unfamiliar territory for the rookie, but his versatility on defense has allowed him to succeed in his newly expanded role as a matchup nightmare.

“I feel pretty comfortable,” Jackson said. “I don’t really think it affects me defensively at all just because every night, I end up guarding 1-4 anyway.Guarding a 2-guard one night, I don’t think it makes too much of a difference.”

All individual efforts aside, the trio has been the most effective combination on a squad that has experimented with 20 different starting lineups so far this season.

When Booker returns from an injured hip and ribs that have kept him out the past two games, Triano likely will bring the gang back together to bolster a defense that is currently dead last in the NBA.

“I think the energy is good at the defensive end,” Triano said. “We get stops and it allows us to run, and I think when we run, guys feel better and share the ball. It’s a lot of fun.”