PHOENIX — Last offseason, Kevin Durant referred to it as “The KD Button,” when media outlets would sprout up headlines featuring his name, based off of little to nothing. There is another version of the button, though, and one we saw the Phoenix Suns spam in Monday’s 118-116 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
In a game that featured practically no inflection points of the momentum swinging, Philadelphia took a nine-point lead with 5:16 to go before Durant scored or assisted on 12 of Phoenix’s final 14 points. The final bucket was a driving finish for his 14th and 15th points of the quarter to put the Suns up two with 24 seconds remaining.
Paul George then bizarrely — in his 76ers debut on a night he was shooting 4-for-13 — isolated for the final shot over Tyrese Maxey, the more effective closer and guy in much more of a rhythm with 32 points. Even weirder, George in a two-point game let the clock wind down all the way to five seconds before attacking.
Phoenix still could have missed a free throw (or two) to keep it a one-possession game but perhaps we’re there now in the NBA when the “foul up three” free-throw shenanigans are ones teams like to try and avoid when chasing the game. Regardless, George missed and that was that.
In the theme of the Suns season so far, that there is always a vital performance from a role player somewhere within a win, Grayson Allen had a huge offensive rebound before that Durant game-winner and then played solid defense on George to close it out.
Durant shot 14-of-20 for 35 points to go with four rebounds and six assists. He picked up a 3-of-18 (16.7%) night for Devin Booker, which is tied for the worst field goal percentage of his career in games he has taken at least 15 shots in, per Stathead. That game happened in March 2018.
The offense the Suns ran through Durant was hunting some of the smaller defensive assignments he was able to draw, a crew he looked in a complete flow against all evening operating around the elbows. Sometimes the more physical defenders can get under Durant and into his handle but he was composed enough to emphatically capitalize on his size advantage.
Durant was asked differently on two separate occasions about any changes in the factors surrounding his involvement in the offense and where that rhythm came from on Monday. The second time, he offered a request.
“It really don’t even matter,” Durant said. “You shouldn’t even worry about me getting my shots. I’m gonna figure it out, I’m gonna get my shots. I don’t need plays called for me, I don’t need my teammates to force me the ball. If we just play together and random and spontaneous the ball will find me.
“I don’t want you thinking too much about where I’m getting the ball or the sets that he needs to run for me. It’s gonna happen in the flow if we all just play together and I think that’s the good thing we’ve been doing throughout the season.”
Will do, KD. Or, uh, will don’t.
Maxey was 12-of-22 for 32 points. He is rapidly approaching his membership getting accepted into the “best scorers in the world” club. Bradley Beal worked his ass off defensively to try and make it difficult on Maxey. He also did well on George for a few possessions too.
“I’m very excited about taking on the task of guarding guys,” Beal said. “I just think that’s another level I can tap into.”
Beal added 17 points (7-of-10), five rebounds, three assists and two steals. His play through the first two weeks has been the most positive development of this 6-1 Suns start. He totally understands what he has to do in his unique role and is performing in it at a stellar level. The degree of difficulty on that should be highlighted regularly and will be as it keeps up, at least in this space.
“I had a better feel coming into this season of kind of what my role would be, how the team would utilize me and where I could just see where we had a gaping hole,” Beal said. “Where we can improve at and just putting myself in that position — telling coach, telling [assistant coach David Fizdale] that that’s an assignment I want every night.”
Beal is doing so through a right elbow sprain that is clearly still bothering him and has had his game status up in the air for the last week-plus.
A weird basketball game unfolded before Kevin Durant did the thing
This one had some odd flow to it, in that any slight rumblings of a run coming from either team were quickly countered by the opponent. The Suns went up 25-15 at 3:22 left the first quarter, and after an 11-1 run by the 76ers to tie it, the biggest lead for most of the remaining time was 38-32 Sixers in a second quarter Phoenix would later own a five-point lead of its own in.
In the middle quarters and up until the 6:46 mark of the final frame, there were 16 lead changes and 11 ties. The last of those ties was a Durant 3 at that reading on the clock before triples from Maxey and Guerschon Yabusele put the 76ers up six with just under six minutes remaining.
Maxey is one of the best young guards in the league and also a dude that reaches a level few do when on a heater. He was trending in that direction in the third quarter before Ryan Dunn did a nice job cooling him off. Maxey, however, had that 3 and another just before that to relocate his rhythm.
Jusuf Nurkic then missed two free throws and another Sixers offensive rebound brought on another Yabusele 3, his fifth of the night off the bench in 30 minutes. Yabusele is an absolute load but only 6-foot-8, which would easily allow the Suns to go small if they were so inclined. Phoenix hardly did in the game outside of the beginning of the second quarter, which it went -6 in.
Nurkic played well in the first three quarters before spiraling a bit in a crunch-time stint that included two turnovers. That could have been the moment to pull him but head coach Mike Budenholzer stuck with Nurkic.
“It’s always a little bit of a gut and a feel thing,” Budenholzer said. “I just thought Nurk was good tonight. … Each night, different guys, we gotta try and read it and feel it.”
Nurkic ended the night with 15 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals, a block and five turnovers.
At three minutes to go, Yabusele missed back-to-back 3s and then traveled with the Suns down five over a minute that could have given Philly the dagger. That’s when Durant got in the middle of his takeover. The margin for error against greatness is often slim.
Phoenix had 56 points in the paint after just 24 on Saturday, a big-time response and a number back in a much more reasonable realm. Sixers coach Nick Nurse was deploying his usual defensive tomfoolery to limit the Suns in certain areas. They took 14 13s in the first quarter before just 18 in the remaining three periods. Phoenix figuring out how to counter the counter for high-volume nights from 3 is the next step.
