Paul Coro

azcentral sports

With strength on his 7-foot-1, 260-pound frame, Alex Len is much more for opponents to deal with under the rim than 15 to 18 feet away from it.

Len has shown an occasional perimeter touch, but a redo on his shooting mechanics had his shots headed every which way Monday night in Los Angeles. Basketball can be simple for a big man if he does not make it too complicated.

Len got back to the simple stuff in the Suns’ first win of the season Wednesday night, setting up the win with his difference-making play over the first three quarters.

Len went 6 of 10 from the field, including a half-court miss, for an 18-point, six-rebound game in only 21 reserve minutes. His form of attack came almost exclusively in the paint against Portland center Mason Plumlee and Meyers Leonard.

Len drew free throws on his first two interior moves and added a slam follow before the first quarter was over. He slammed again. He had a tip-in. Then, with a rhythm, Len hit a jumper before adding two and-one finishes in the third quarter. Len played quality defense, too, adding three blocked shots after having four in the first four games combined.

“Alex Len perfected simplicities of the game,” Suns coach Earl Watson said. “He kept it simple, and his numbers were better.”

Fly-by-Knight

The impending death of the six-second video app, Vine, seemed like good riddance for Brandon Knight, who has been on the wrong end of many Vines, but he gave it quite the going-away smash Wednesday night.

At a bleak Suns moment with a 90-83 hole midway through the fourth quarter, Knight torched Al-Farouq Aminu off the dribble and had a posterizing dunk on Evan Turner.

“I didn’t even think he can do that,” Suns forward P.J. Tucker said. “That came from out of nowhere. We see him miss dunks every day in practice so to see him thrown that one down was crazy. That was nice.”

Past dunks have been causes or signals of injury for Knight, who aggravated a sports hernia in March when he tried a monster dunk at Milwaukee. Knight has said fans would know he is feeling healthy from past ankle and sports hernia surgeries when the dunks return.

Oh, did they ever.

Knight shook Aminu with a crossover dribble from beyond the 3-point line on the right wing. Knight turned his body for launch in the paint, where the 6-foot-7 Turner was waiting under the basket. Turner jumped. He should not have. Knight cocked back his right arm fully extended for a dunk that sparked the Suns to score 20 points in the final 5:41.

“That was a huge play,” Len said. “It got everybody excited and everybody on feet their feet and everybody started cheering. It was a big pump for us. He is just getting healthy. Last year, he kind of had trouble with his ankles. Now you can see, he’s getting his athleticism and his bounce back.”

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Jones assigned to NAZ

The Suns assigned rookie forward Derrick Jones Jr., to D-League affiliate Northern Arizona on Thursday.

Jones, 19, joins the NAZ Suns’ camp that started Tuesday and will be able to play in their Sunday preseason game against the Los Angeles D-Fenders. That game starts at noon at Prescott Valley Event Center with free admission.

The Suns can assign and recall Jones as many times as they wish. The 6-7 forward has been on the inactive list for all five Suns games but he will be able to get more game time with NAZ, which opens a 50-game regular season at home on Nov. 12.

Free throws

At 22.4 points per game, T.J. Warren ranked 19th in the NBA in scoring average entering Thursday’s games. No Suns player has scored more points in the first five games since Jason Richardson (22.8) in 2010.

Suns center Tyson Chandler ranked fourth in the NBA with 12.6 rebounds per game. His rebound rate of 22.2 rebounds per 48 minutes leads the NBA for any player averaging at least 10.0 minutes. It is the best five-game rebounding start by a Suns player since Shawn Marion (13.0) in 2005.

Reach Paul Coro atpaul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-2470. Follow him attwitter.com/paulcoro.

Wednesday’s game

Suns at Pelicans

When: 5 p.m.

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans.

TV/radio: FSAZ/KTAR-FM (98.7).

Pelicans update: New Orleans (0-5) remained winless with an 89-83 loss Wednesday night at Memphis, where Anthony Davis only made 3 of 13 shots for 10 points and still was the Pelicans’ top scoring starter. Former Arizona standout Solomon Hill signed with Memphis as a free agent and starts for a team missing Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Quincy Pondexter. Tim Frazier, an undrafted guard in 2014, is the second-leading scorer (13.0 points per game) for a team shooting 41.5 percent. Despite his off night, Davis is averaging 31.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 2.4 steals. New Orleans is 0-3 at home.