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Phoenix Suns Survive Chicago Bulls in Overtime Thriller, Win 116-115

© Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

The Phoenix Suns defeated the Chicago Bulls (3-6) 116-115 in an overtime thriller on the road to improve to 4-4 on the year.

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Jusuf Nurkić won the game for Phoenix with a layup with seven seconds left. The game was very back and forth with Suns squandering some big leads throughout the night. This was also the season debut for Bradley Beal.

Here’s how all of the action unfolded.

First Quarter

Right away, we saw the impact of Beal. He had two early assists to Jusuf Nurkić, whose had problems getting his offensive game rolling lately. 

Nurkić had six points and three assists in the first three minutes. Beal got on the board early with two straight triples. He checked out with 5:52 left in the first after an awkward fall, but did come back in to start the second.

Nurkić’s and Beal’s hot starts were part of a 22-4 burst to begin the game for Phoenix. The team had really good pressuring defense leading to easy run outs on offense.

However, the Bulls then responded with a 16-5 run, highlighted by three straight triples from Alex Caruso.

Then, it was back-and-forth for the rest of the quarter. The Suns ended the first with 11 assists on 11 field goals and led 36-28 heading to the second. Kevin Durant once again spearheaded the scoring charge for Phoenix with 10 points to lead all scorers.

Second Quarter

The Suns came out sluggish to start the second quarter in the non-Kevin Durant minutes, despite having Beal out there. Phoenix only scored two points in the first five minutes.

After starting 2-for-3, Beal ended the first half shooting 2-for-9, looking a little bit winded as expected in his first game back.

Durant checked back in for the Suns with 5:21 remaining and Phoenix up 42-38. This was the same time Beal checked out.

Durant helped the Suns extend the lead to 51-42 quickly. However, Coby White led a big 7-0 run for Chicago to get the Bulls right back into it.

Then, Chicago took its first lead with under a minute to go in the half. The Suns did respond, but in the end it was tied after a bucket by Nikola Vučević with under two seconds to go.

Phoenix shot 36% in the second quarter compared to 52% by the Bulls in a quarter Chicago won 29-21. The Suns only forced four Chicago turnovers and had seven of their own for the half.

Durant had 14 points and five assists in the half. Grayson Allen chipped in nine of his own. Nurkić had perhaps his best half of the year with eight points, five rebounds and five assists. Beal ended his first half back with eight points, three assists and two rebounds in 13 minutes.

As for the Bulls, they had four players end the half in double figures. Vučević led their team in scoring with 12.

Third Quarter

Zach LaVine looked to pick up right where Chicago left off in the first half, cashing a three 14 seconds into the third quarter.

However, the Suns responded with a big offensive outburst having Durant and Beal back on the floor together. The Bulls did not go away though, having a very good start of their own to the half.

The two teams combined for 34 points in the first six minutes, as Phoenix led 75-73 after this stretch.

Allen could not miss to start the quarter and was hitting almost every catch-and-shoot opportunity. Allen had eight of these points for Phoenix, while LaVine had nine for Chicago.

The Suns then went on a 13-3 run between the 5:37 mark and 2:17 mark led by Allen, Durant and Yuta Watanabe to go up 88-76.

However, LaVine and the Bulls would not go away. They did not allow another bucket by Phoenix for the rest of the quarter. The Suns had way too many unforced errors in the last couple minutes, but still led 88-84. Phoenix outscored Chicago 31-27 in the quarter.

LaVine had 15 points in the quarter, while Allen finished with 11.

Fourth Quarter

The Bulls picked up right where they left off to end the third quarter. With five early points in the first minute, they continued a 13-0 run between the two quarters to retake the lead, 89-88.

The run was up to 16-0 before Allen hit a three pointer to stop the beating. This tied his career high with seven three pointers.

The Suns later opened a 7-0 run to put them up 98-94. Durant checked in for Beal with this score at the 7:59 mark.

The lack of offense did not go away. However, Phoenix continued to build on its lead and was up 103-98 with 4:58 to go after Allen broke his career high with his eighth triple.

Then, Chicago responded with a quick 5-0 run to tie it up at 103. The Suns then went up 107-103 and looked to be in control with 3:13 to go.

Despite Beal checking back in and a combined four steals and blocks in the final three minutes, the Suns did not score one time. Chicago made it 107-105 with 2:15 left, but they did not score again until 15 seconds.

Keita Bates-Diop looked to have a layup to give Phoenix a four-point lead with 25 seconds remaining, but Nurkić was called for an offensive foul for holding under the basket.

DeMar DeRozan then tied it up with a layup with 15 seconds left.

Durant missed a last-second jumper, and the game was headed to overtime.  Really the only reason the Bulls were able to keep pace with the Suns was because of seven turnovers by Phoenix in the final period. Chicago outscored the Suns 23-19 in total in the fourth.

Overtime

This ugly fourth quarter continued to the overtime for the Suns. Beal did not play in the overtime due to his minutes restriction.

The Suns went up two early after two free throws by Durant. However, the Bulls answered with threes by Vučević and Caruso.

Then, Durant had two more free throws and DeRozan responded with a mid-range jumper.

However, Bates-Diop made a huge three-pointer off an assist by Durant with just over a minute remaining in what was only his second field goal of the game.

After a defensive stop by the Suns, a scoreless possession on offense and another big stop, Phoenix had its golden opportunity.

With the last possession starting with 18 seconds left, of course the ball was in Durant’s hands. KD found Nurkić for what ended up being the game-winner with seven seconds left.

Then, Keita Bates-Diop locked up DeRozan on his game-winning shot attempt. After a couple more inbounds with under a second to go, Phoenix walked away with the victory.

Final Stats

Durant once again was huge for Phoenix, finishing with 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in 42 minutes. However, Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkić also had fantastic outings.

Allen led the Suns with 26 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. He shot 8-of-13 from deep.

The game-winning Nurkić had monster stats, finishing with 20 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.

In Beal’s return, he posted 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Even though Durant and Nurkić did have near-triple doubles, they finished with six turnovers each.

As a team, the Suns had 21 turnovers, but did total 32 assists. They outrebounded the Bulls 53-38 and shot 38-of-89 from the floor (42.7%) and 19-of-48 (39.6%) from deep.

Vučević led the way for the Bulls, finishing with 26 points and six rebounds. DeRozan and Lavine each had 22 for Chicago. The Bulls shot slightly better than the Suns, 42-of-95 from the field (44.2%) and 14-of-33 (42.4%) from three. They had 30 assists to 14 turnovers.

The Suns (4-4) next play the Los Angeles Lakers (3-5) in their first in-season tournament game at home on Friday at 8 p.m. MST.

Fans on edge after Suns barely overcome turnovers to secure OT win against Bulls

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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