PHOENIX -- The offensive doom seemed sufficiently credible for the Phoenix Suns to light up a beacon, click on the Bat Signal or perform some other aggressive action as a call for help.
They'd managed a measly 13 points in the opening quarter of Saturday's tussle with the rim-stingy Utah Jazz, and their perimeter shooting hasn't exactly inspired fear in the opposition for a while.
So into this gear-grinding fray hopped the potentially dangerous (to either side) Gerald Green, who provided a partial reminder of why last season was so enjoyable.
In a robust 22 minutes, 11 seconds of work, the Suns' closest thing to a nuclear option detonated for a game-high 24 points, helping Phoenix achieve an 87-85 victory.
"Every guy on the team should be that way," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said in regard to Green being ready and able to answer the rescue summons. "They're getting paid millions of dollars. We expect all these guys to be ready. You never know when they're going to get the spark.
"Especially against a big team where we're not getting a lot of inside stuff to Markieff (Morris), it's hard to post maybe a Marcus (Morris) or P.J. (Tucker), because those guys just come over to help. We need the shooting, and that's what Gerald provided."
"Those guys" referenced are Jazz center Rudy "The Stifle Tower" Gobert, a 7-foot-1 purveyor of rejection, and bouncy 6-10 power forward Derrick Favors. While trolling the basket area, they've teamed up to wreck any enjoyment that used to be available when playing against Utah.
With Gobert and his 7-9 wing span looming as weak-side help, the aforementioned posting up of Marcus Morris and Tucker was not an option. Marcus wasn't even able to locate a shot in the opening half and found only 3 in the second.
Brother Markieff was able to squeeze off 14 shots, but with Favors in his grill and Gobert lurking to disturb drives to the rim, Morris converted only four times.
"Well, it's kind of a strange game," Hornacek said after his team boosted its record to 40-38 and ended a five-game losing streak. "They're a very good defensive team. When we kind of stood around and didn't get much, they're very good, they help on the nail, they're long."
Fortunately, Utah isn't equally dynamic on offense and mustered only 18 first-quarter points against the newly-fortified Phoenix defense. With the game still easily within rehabilitation range, Green hit the scene and hit the Jazz for 10 points -- making 4 of 6 shots -- as the Suns scored 34 second-quarter points while limiting Utah to 19.
Eric Bledsoe certainly didn't mind having someone capable of making jumpers on the end of his passes.
"Gerald," the Suns' point guard said when asked to define this victory. "Gerald came in and do what Gerald do. He made unbelievable shots and he just got us going.
"It's unbelievable. Sometimes you get caught up in the moment just watching instead of playing."
We're not sure what the Suns were caught up in over the first 7:47 of the third quarter, but that's all the time Utah needed to trim its 10-point halftime deficit to 59-57. Green wasn't on the floor when this slouching happened.
But he returned at 4:13 to score four more points in that quarter, before dropping another 10 in the fourth.
The really cool stuff didn't occur, however, until the Jazz had opened a 70-65 lead at 10:46.
A 25-foot bomb from Green started the rally at 9:58, his 17-footer at 8:18 kept the Suns within 2, he missed a 3-pointer -- but dunked the follow -- to tie it at 74 with 7:47 to play, and made a triple to give Phoenix the lead for good at 6:42.
To spice things up a bit, Green -- who made 10 of 17 shots overall -- declined an open shot and passed to Tucker for a wide-open 3 that provided the Suns with a 80-76 lead at 6:05.
"Yeah, with Gerald you never know what's going to happen," Tucker said. "You just got to be ready. You don't know if he's going to pass it, if he's going to shoot it. So, I was happy he passed it because I was pretty open."
And how did Green -- whose scoring average has dropped from 15.8 last season to 11.3 this season -- feel about responding when his team needed him? He probably felt pretty good.
We can't know for sure, because shortly after shooting to the rescue, Green vanished into the night without an official word.
