Frank Vogel postgame press conference after the Phoenix Suns (12-8) defeat Memphis Grizzlies (5-14) 116-109
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Devin Booker returned with a bang after a one-game absence and the Phoenix Suns snapped a two-game skid with a 116-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies and improved to 12-8 on the year.
Booker totaled 34 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to propel the Suns over a scrappy Grizzlies team, who were missing eight players.
Memphis led by one at the half, but the Suns had a big 14-0 run in the third quarter and didn’t look back from there.
Kevin Durant had 27 points and 5 assists, snapping his seven-game streak with 30+ points, but still putting together a solid outing.
Josh Okogie was scrappy all night, finishing with three steals and seven rebounds, impacting the game without scoring.
The Suns overcame 37 points from Jaren Jackson Jr. and 27 from Desmond Bane to get the W.
Next up for the Suns is in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night in Los Angeles against the Lakers with the winner advancing to Las Vegas.
Top Quotes from Frank Vogel Presser (via Suns)
(On overall performance of tonight’s game…)
“Overall, happy with the win. Our guys played basically a heavyweight game last night. Came in second night of a back-to-back and toughed it out. You could tell there was some fatigue with the focus and energy, but I thought that Josh Okogie really helped us in that regard. Thought he really impacted the game without scoring; just made a lot of the hustle and energy plays and that stuff was contagious. I was proud of how Kevin (Durant) responded. Kevin played a really solid efficient offensive night, Book (Devin Booker) gave us a big lift, obviously with coming
back and just happy to get a win.”
(On Devin Booker playing tonight with being out for yesterday’s game…)
“He wanted to play. He wanted to play yesterday, but his ankle just wasn’t feeling well enough so needed another day and it got a little bit better; good enough to be out there and he played a great game, almost had a triple-double. He’s our leader of the offense in terms of organizing us, and it’s always tricky when he’s out of the game, just trying to get us organized and get our guys in the right spot. Obviously, he carries a big load offensively with his ability to score in a variety of different ways. This team likes to muck up the game with overplays and denials
and lot of wrestling matches out there to try and get open, but our guys played through it all.”
(On the third quarter run the Suns had tonight…)
“I know we had a relapse in defense in transition defense not getting matched up, which is unacceptable, so I called a timeout and got after them a little bit about, ‘It’s time to wake up. It’s time to get control of this game.’ And I think during that stretch, Book (Devin Booker) just took over a few offensive possessions and he is capable of doing that. We kept trying to counter what they were doing defensively, put our guys in position to use it against them and I think during that stretch is when we did our best.”
(On facing the Lakers on Tuesday and what improvements need to be made…)
“We got to play a more complete game. We just got to keep growing. We got to familiarize ourselves with who is in uniform, it’s been a different group every night and hopefully we have the guys that we had in tonight.”
Devin Booker Drops 34 & 10 in Return from One-Game Absence as Suns Beat Grizzlies 116-109
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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
