PHOENIX SUNS

Durant, Booker carry Suns in hard-earned win over Pistons

Jan 18, 2025, 5:03 PM | Updated: 5:09 pm

Devin Booker #1 and Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during th...

Devin Booker #1 and Kevin Durant #35 of the Phoenix Suns reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter at State Farm Arena on January 14, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

For all the warranted conversation surrounding the future of the Phoenix Suns and how they constructed their roster, Saturday’s 125-121 was a reminder of the reason why you sacrifice what you did to build a roster around Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

Phoenix’s warts were still prominent in this one. It played poor transition defense, had careless turnovers and lost the math battle. But Booker and Durant just didn’t stop getting buckets all afternoon, to the point where it made up for all of those issues.

Durant scored 30 of his 36 points in the second half while it was 23 of Booker’s 35 in the first half. No team led by double digits and the score stayed within two possessions for almost the entirety of the game.

While the Suns couldn’t get key stops until late, they kept answering via Booker or Durant. Starting at the 11:23 mark of the fourth quarter, Phoenix right after Detroit did nine out of the 10 times. The last time was an absurd Durant middy over perfect defense by Detroit’s Tobias Harris that put the Suns up four with 1:05 remaining.

After a miss by each team, Booker fouled Tim Hardaway Jr. on a 3-point shot with the Suns up four but Hardaway only made one of his three free throws. The Suns (21-20) won the free-throw shenanigans from there to close it out.

Saturday marked the debut of new acquisition Nick Richards, who came off the bench and had 21 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes. That is the highest-scoring effort by a Suns center this season.

Starter Mason Plumlee got only 13 minutes while rookie Oso Ighodaro only got one shift in the first half for five. Richards’ skill-set around the basket was an expected breath of fresh air. He was consistently contesting shots and also had a few nice finishes, where he will make an immense difference compared to what Phoenix had earlier in the season.

It’s going to take time. In playmaking situations either as a dribble-handoff guy or in the short roll, you can see Richards’ processing time, unlike the Suns’ three other 5s. Detroit’s (21-21) centers hounded him as a hub, presumably on purpose with his turnover issues. And on defense, Phoenix’s rebounding woes will still continue some nights because of how often Richards wants to block shots (and he has to get better about choosing when to do that).

But having a powerful and quick-leaping finisher will be a constant plus for the offense, as well as his physicality for rebounds.

Clarity on the center rotation will come over the next roughly two weeks, as Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reports Richards will start once he gets acclimated.

Ighodaro has provided the most consistent minutes than Plumlee and Jusuf Nurkic but still has stretches when he very much looks like a first-year player (like any rookie will). Plumlee has had more positive stints than Nurkic but will also have some real lows, like Nurkic. There is an argument to be made for Nurkic getting the backup minutes, given he and Richards would provide a strong rebounding tandem and suddenly make that a strength of the team at one position.

Nurkic, however, has not been with the team for seven days due to an illness. This time out came shortly after he was pulled out of the rotation completely, a move he was not given a heads-up for by head coach Mike Budenholzer. Nurkic has been vocal in the past about not liking his role (while acknowledging he’ll still do it), so who knows if he would accept a long-term demotion. And because he’s been so inconsistent, that would be with sporadic minutes anyway, especially to make sure Ighodaro could still get some minutes.

Bradley Beal (left ankle sprain) missed his second straight game, while Detroit was without third-year guard Jaden Ivey, who was its second-best player in the Pistons’ win over Phoenix earlier this season.

Booker played 42 minutes and Durant was at 38, while each committed only two turnovers.

This is the latest January heater for Booker. He has put up 30-plus points in five straight games and six out of his last seven. Last season, Booker toward the end of the month put up efforts of 52, 46, 62 and 44 across a 10-day span.

Phoenix was +8 at the foul line but took eight fewer shots than Detroit and made two less 3s, thanks largely to only attempting 25. As previously mentioned, it took masterful stretches from the Suns’ stars to overcome the blemishes elsewhere and a 7-for-26 shooting night out of Pistons star guard Cade Cunningham helped. With that in mind, the Suns were only -2 on the offensive glass and had their best two quarters of half-court defense in weeks to begin the game.

They can eventually graduate beyond the problems that always plague them but it will take stacking serious efforts like Saturday’s to do so. Phoenix has not shown a willingness for that yet, and the official halfway point of the season would be a great time to change that.

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Durant, Booker carry Suns in hard-earned win over Pistons