What a great way to start the Kevin Durant era in Phoenix as the Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings by a final score of 120-109.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Even though Durant didn’t play today, there were still a lot of things to like from last night’s huge victory and what Durant can expect to be a part of with his new team when he returns after the all-star break.
The Suns looked like a team that was playing with a sense of urgency all night long. The Kings aren’t an easy team to defeat and they gave the Suns their best performance for the majority of the night until the Suns ultimately ran away with it late in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Monty Williams alluded to the type of night that they played and he commended the all-around effort on both ends of the floor post-game.
“For us to be able to play with that kind of force for as long as we did spoke to how much they wanted to get this win – especially coming off a break. Sometimes you have a lull after a few days off, but we didn’t see that, especially on the defensive end.”
Defensively they had one of their best games of the season. They had 12 steals while forcing 17 turnovers for the night. They only gave up 109 points and forced one of the best three-point shooting teams to shoot 37% from deep.
Offensively they were just as good. Devin Booker led the way with 32 points in just 29 minutes of play followed by a 29 points and 11 rebounds game by Deandre Ayton and a 17 points and 19 assists performance by Chris Paul.
Josh Okogie ended up pouring 19 points of his own while shooting 62% from the floor as he continues to elevate his offensive game to already complement his great defensive game.
A lot of fans and people in attendance were wondering if the Suns’ play had anything to do with Durant being in the building. Coach Williams gave an insightful answer on how much that played a factor.
Monty answers question about if he felt there was a sense of urgency after the trade for Kevin and with him the building and his answer was insightful.#WeAreTheValley#NBA pic.twitter.com/BWFGVYNnuH
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) February 15, 2023
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This high impact of players on one team is something that Phoenix hasn’t had in a long time. And it’s even got some of the young guys buying in more to the thought of them playing championship-level basketball and being more intuitive when it comes to the attention to detail that they have to hone in on every given possession.
Their next opportunity to show Kevin Durant what kind of team they are is tomorrow at 8 PM back at Footprint Center against Durant’s former team the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let’s see if they can put another complete game together.
