PHOENIX — Friday night was a fairly succesful night for the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns welcomed rookie Ryan Dunn back to the lineup after a week of being out due to an ankle issue. Grayson Allen remained in the rotation after an injury scare over last weekend.
Most importantly, Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Durant returned to the starting lineup in what proved to be a massive boost in the 134-126 triumph over the Utah Jazz to move to 13-11 on the season ahead of a date with the Portland Trail Blazers tomorrow night.
Major takeaways surrounding the pair of key Suns after the victory will follow.
Nurkic: Looks Refreshed, Playing Within Team
Nurkic’s raw stat line – 12 points, 6-7 from the field, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks generally supported how he played against Utah.
Nurkic didn’t waste much time at all with the ball in his hands – he took quality shots (even the lone three-point attempt he saw), he largely avoided costly mistakes, and played a fairly admirable game as a rim protector – which surprisingly checks out with metrics that tend to like his defensive play this season.
Beyond the surface, Nurkic looks refreshed after getting some rest. He is moving better on the floor. He looks more enthusiastic. He is treading the line between assertive and aggressive.
If this is the Nurkic that will be seen more often than not the rest of the season, it appears as if the Suns may not need to make a trade or a drastic change such as moving Oso Ighodaro into the starting unit.
But that is a big IF – monitoring Nurkic over the next month is an absolute must.
Durant: Hasn’t Skipped a Beat
Words are running short in terms of describing the greatness of number 35.
The perennial MVP candidate might just be the one player that can consistently return from any given setback or challenge and seemingly not skip a beat.
Durant’s 30-point, 8 assist showing was spearheaded by his trademark smooth brand of play – and got to the free-throw line on six different occasions, knocking down all 12 shots.
Durant also provided awesome help-side defense along with Dunn and Nurkic – when much of the rest of the roster was lagging at various points on that end.
If anything is to be taken from this game – it’s that the Suns are 12-2 with Durant. This is a quality team that has become the victim of a tale of two seasons. Now is the time to stay as healthy as possible, build momentum moving forward (including piling up victories), and continuing to rise the ranks on the offensive side of the ball across the league.
The next opportunity to catch the Suns in action will be tomorrow evening against the Portland Trail Blazers – in a game where the Suns will look to start a fresh winning streak ahead of a fairly manageable two-game slate to follow.
