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Kevin Durant emulated the greats of the game with double-clutch game-winner

Kevin Durant is proving to Phoenix Suns (25-18) fans why he is one of the best players of all time during the team’s current six-game win streak.

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The 35-year-old dropped a season-high 43 points on the second night of a back-to-back and capped it all off with a double-clutch game-winning jumper to defeat the Chicago Bulls (21-24) 115-113 last night. He pretty much singlehandedly helped the Suns overcome a 23-point third quarter deficit.

Durant’s game-winner will go down as one of the top individual plays in his career because of the fashion he made it.

“Everybody in the gym knew the ball was coming to me and especially (Alex) Caruso,” Durant said of his game-winner. “He’s such a smart defender, he jumped it. Him and (DeMar) DeRozan, I think kind of shadowed it a little bit (on the) out-of-bounds pass and (Jusuf Nurkić) made himself available. We worked on that backdoor so many times in game and practice. I seen Caruso flying too, so I had to double pump just a little bit, but I’m glad it went in.”

Suns’ coach Frank Vogel could not believe what he witnessed from his superstar.

“A double-clutch, 17-footer, I haven’t seen a shot like that,” Vogel said.

Durant further broke down why he ended up doing a double clutch.

“I happened to see (Caruso) late,” Durant said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re gonna give me a wide open pull-up in the left at the elbow.’ And then for some reason, I just seen in my peripheral … somebody flying so hard, and I just tried to get a good one up. It felt great leaving my hands.”

Durant said he does not practice double-clutch jumpers often, but relied on some basketball legends in the moment.

“You’ve seen the Kobe’s and Michael Jordan’s when you get a good contest, so I try to watch them a lot,” Durant said. “(The) guy’s contesting pretty well, so sometimes I could bring that out.”

Durant’s night in total

After starting 0-of-6 from deep in the first half, Durant responded in typical KD fashion with 30 second-half points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. This all came after Durant played 40 minutes just the night before and scored 40 points then. In total, Durant finished with 43 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two blocks in 41 minutes.

Durant explained his thought process when he enters the big moments.

“It is basketball at the end of the day, man,” Durant said. “It is not too serious. I know these games are high stakes, and there is a lot on the line. But at the end of the day, it is still hoop. So, in the moments, I try to be as calm as I can and execute the game plan. It was a fun game, fun game.”

Coach Frank Vogel knew exactly who the Suns were going to on the last play of the game: the player who won his 32nd career NBA Conference Player of the Week award earlier that day. 

“We just want to get KD the ball and try to get the last shot,” Vogel said. “With all the denials, first play of the game, last play of the game, start of the quarters, we play through the big and back cut the guy that is being denied. We call it ‘flash burn.’ Flash the big, burn on the backside and those guys executed it when we needed it the most, and he made a ridiculous shot.”

Vogel was in awe of what did Durant did last night.

“That’s one of the best performances I’ve been apart of (with what) Kevin Durant did tonight,” Vogel said. “That was special, including the game-winner.”

Kevin Durant scores 43 points in Suns win over 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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