On Thursday night, the Phoenix Suns faced off against the Utah Jazz in a thrilling NBA game. The Suns, who were missing their All-Star player Devin Booker due to a sore left hip, managed to secure a 129-115 victory against the Jazz. Kevin Durant, the former MVP, scored 31 points, while Bradley Beal added 30 points to the Suns’ total score. The Suns never trailed in the game, winning their third straight game and their 12th out of 15. To add to their impressive record, the Suns also swept the four-game regular-season series against the Jazz.
Both teams played with high intensity, but the Suns managed to showcase their offensive skills, shooting nearly 60% from the field. The team also had 37 assists to only 12 turnovers and scored 30 fast-break points. The Suns’ offense was impressive throughout the game, especially in the first half when they hit the Jazz with waves of offense.
“We want to become a team-first team. We’ve got elite scorers, we’ve got elite individual talent, but I love how we’re playing together,” said Suns coach Frank Vogel.
Utah, who could not keep up with the Suns, had Lauri Markkanen leading with 22 points, while John Collins had 21 and Collin Sexton 19.
Phoenix dominated the game from the start, jumping out to a 40-28 lead in the first quarter, with Durant scoring 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The Suns settled for a 75-66 halftime lead.
Utah cut the lead to 81-78 early in the third quarter, but the Suns used a 13-0 run, which included 3-pointers from Eric Gordon and Bradley Beal, to regain control of the game. The Suns built a 109-90 lead by the end of the third quarter and never trailed in the fourth quarter, keeping a double-digit margin throughout.
“Cut it to three and then after that, we just had some possessions were we took a few bad shots, a couple of turnovers and it allowed them to play against an unset defense,” said Jazz coach Will Hardy.
Eric Gordon scored 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Jusuf Nurkic had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Grayson Allen added eight points and a career-high 14 assists. Allen almost doubled his previous career high of eight assists. The sixth-year player is known for his 3-point shooting, but with Booker on the bench, he was more of a ball-handler against the Jazz.
“We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup all season, so we kind of understand our roles when guys are out. It’s a next-man-up mentality in this league,” said Durant.
Earlier on Thursday, the Suns re-tooled their bench at the trade deadline, adding Royce O’Neale from Brooklyn and David Roddy from Memphis, but neither was available on Thursday. Utah also made a few changes before the trade deadline.
