Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer meets with the media following the Suns’ 115-112 victory over the Miami Heat, as Phoenix came back from down 15 to pick up its sixth-straight win and tie a franchise record with a 7-1 start.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Phoenix is now 6-0 in the clutch on the season, as its fourth quarter defense has been really impressive all year long. The Suns won the fourth quarter 31-25 tonight and held Miami to 8-of-21 (38.1%) shooting from the field and 2-of-10 (20%) shooting from 3 in the period.
Kevin Durant remains inevitable in the clutch. After 15 fourth quarter points last game, including the game-winner, Durant scored 11 of his game-high 32 points in the final period and sealed the victory with a mid-range jumper.
Jusuf Nurkić had his best game of the season, excelling on both ends, as he ended with 20 points, shooting 6-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-3 from deep, 18 rebounds and two blocks. On the other side, Bam Adebayo had 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting. Nurkić posted a double-double midway through second quarter.
The Suns went on a 15-3 run to end the third quarter after trailing by as many as 15 to cut the Heat lead to 87-84 entering the fourth. Phoenix had been searching for a run like this the entire game before it finally came, and it carried this momentum to a victory.
This was the last matchup of a three-game homestand for the Suns, who will next travel to play the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
Here are some key quotes and clips from Budenholzer’s press conference:
- On closing out the fourth quarter: “Well, it felt like it really started in the three, five-minute mark of the third quarter; I think we were down 10. It was not our best third and I thought the end of the third quarter was huge. Grayson (Allen) hit a three, I think (Devin) Book got an and-one, I think that stretch was really important. Then it was kind of just back and forth, and, like you said, down the stretch, KD (Kevin Durant) hit a bunch of shots; I thought we got some in transition. (Jusuf) Nurkic’s defense was just in a lot of different places, I thought he really helped us. Brad (Beal) chasing (Tyler) Herro all over, so a lot of people contributed to a lot of things going into the win.”
- On getting offensive rebounds and looking to pass it to the perimeter for a three-pointer: “It is something that we talk about. We need to improve as an offensive rebounding team. We feel like we can be better than we have been so far and when we do get them, it’s a great opportunity for the defensive scrambled. It’s hard for them to get matched up and lots of times, there’s opportunities for quick three, so we want to continue to kind of work on that and see if we can find those.”
- On utilizing Jusuf Nurkic in different scenarios and expanding his game: “He’s been working on it all summer. We’ve had good conversations about him being able to play around the three-point line and shooting it with confidence and letting it fly. He’s put a lot of time and effort in, so he’s got an ability to finish around the basket and do things there, but now, like you talked about, with expanding his game, he’s giving us another weapon, another option, another ability to get threes up, so it is helpful.”
“We’re just encouraging him. We’re trying to fill him with confidence, and he’s gonna have some nights like this and we just got to keep pushing for him to take advantage of everything he can do.”#Suns coach Mike Budenholzer on Jusuf Nurkić’s monster performance against #Heat https://t.co/Jw6OKN8yd2 pic.twitter.com/63hKfr1ytL
— Burn City Suns ☀️ (@BurnCitySuns) November 7, 2024
Initial takeaways from Suns’ resilient 115-112 win over Heat
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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
