A sellout crowd of 17,071 witnessed the Phoenix Suns defeat the Sacramento Kings 130-125 on Tuesday night, despite the fact that Bradley Beal sustained his third injury of the season and the Kings controlled the paint.
The Suns, who had trailed by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, rallied for a 22-9 fourth-quarter lead led by Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, who each scored 10 points. The Suns now lead 94-92.
In addition to recording a double-double of 28 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, Booker became the second-all-time leading scorer in the history of the team with 25 points and nine assists.
With 13,918 points to Alvan Adams’ 13,910, Booker has officially passed Adams. With 15,666 points, the late, great Walter Davis leads all time.After five minutes of play, Beal pulled his hamstring and finished with five points on two of two shots. He did not come back, and he is now out of Wednesday’s second-leg back-to-back game against Detroit. In response, Eric Gordon scored 20 of his 23 points in the first half of Tuesday’s game.
The Kings (30-23) dominated the Suns’ interior with 72 points in the paint, led by a game-high 40 points from De’Aaron Fox and a triple-double of 35 points, 18 rebounds, and 12 assists from Domantas Sabonis. However, with one game remaining in April in Sacramento, the Suns evened their season series at 2-2.
After losing in the quarterfinals of the NBA In-Season Tournament, the Suns (32-22) and Kings will play five times this season.
The Suns are fifth in the West while the Kings are ninth. Here’s what we learned. The Suns, Pelicans (32-22), Mavericks (31-23), and Kings are all separated by only a mere ½ games.He has previously demonstrated his ability to bounce back from a subpar shooting effort and still deliver when it counts.
With 11.4 seconds remaining, Booker made a huge impact by hitting six baskets in a row to give Phoenix a 128-123 lead. With 33.5 seconds left, he launched this run with a 22-foot jumper over Harrison Barnes to put Phoenix up, 124-121.Prior to it, with 47.2 seconds remaining, Booker found Royce O’Neale for a 3-pointer that gave the Suns a four-point lead, 122-118. It was incredible how he was able to get the ball to O’Neale on the wing by dribbling around a double team of Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox at the top of the key.
Although Booker was the primary facilitator early in the season, in more recent games, he has split more of the workload with Beal. With Beal out of the picture, Booker took over and performed well. The best players possess “that knack,” as Suns coach Frank Vogel puts it, which allows them to read the game and determine how to execute plays that will win. Despite Phoenix having won both games in the series, they haven’t been that convincing.
Sure, it’s exciting, but right now Sacramento could easily be up 4-0 against them. In the Kings’ 119-117 loss in Phoenix last month, they blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead and lost this time around despite scoring 72 points in the paint, 26 fast break points, and shooting 51.6% from the floor.The Suns would only be favoured in a series because Sacramento is worse on defence, with Phoenix ranking 15th and the Kings ranking 20. The defensive-minded Vogel has accepted the idea of playing good enough defence just to outscore teams, and he would really have to live by that rule in a series against the Kings and be OK with losing some hair by Game 2 or 3. DespitNow that the deal is looking even better, Vogel claimed to have “scripted” O’Neale to play for only fifteen minutes following his eleven-point performance in his Suns debut against Golden State on Saturday.
It seems like he had to make do on Tuesday.
Playing thirty minutes, O’Neale put together one of the most unusual stat lines you’ll ever see: plus-13, the highest of any player, with nine points (3-of-7 FGs, 2-of-5 from 3) with eight coming in the fourth quarter, five assists, four rebounds, four steals, a block, and zero turnovers.
The man wasn’t kidding when he claimed to do a little bit of everything.
His adaptability, shooting touch, and defensive versatility cover a number of gaps.e shooting 9-of-31 from three on Tuesday, the Suns struggle to handle Sacramento’s pace, can’t match up with Fox and Sabonis, and Malik Monk can get it in against them as well.Williams will make what is expected to be an emotional comeback for the Suns when they play the Pistons in their last game before the All-Star break.
Before being fired after the Suns were defeated by the Denver Nuggets, the eventual NBA champions, in the Western Conference semifinals, he led the team to three straight postseason berths, a franchise-high 64 victories the next season, and the NBA Finals in 2021.
The Republic was informed by Suns executives that a tribute video will be produced.
The Pistons (8-45) are fresh off a Tuesday 125-111 loss to the Lakers on the road. For Phoenix and Detroit, this will be the second of a back-to-back.
On November 5, Phoenix defeated Detroit 120-106, with Durant scoring 41 points.
More Suns: Mat Ishbia discusses the Player 15 Group brand and the upcoming NBA G League team for the 2024–25 season.
