PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns picked up right where they left off as a fully loaded roster, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 127-100 in the return of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.
Phoenix won eight of its first nine games before Durant missed the next seven, and it lost six of those. Beal was out for the previous five, all losses.
This one was all about the star power of a Big 3. Beal (10-of-15, 23 points), Durant (9-of-17, 23 points) and Devin Booker (10-of-17, 26 points) combined to shoot 59.2% (29-for-49) with 14 assists and six turnovers. Booker had 10 of those assists.
It was the first time this season the Suns’ Big 3 all scored 20-plus points. They are now 9-1 in those games all time.
The math wasn’t mathing in the geometric sense for how the Lakers were supposed to shape their defensive rotations around those guys.
That was not the case when only Booker was playing, of course.
“Obviously, it’s like that if any of the combination of us weren’t out there,” Beal said of that stretch. “They’re gonna double-team the guy out there and force the ball out of his hands. … You seen it tonight, you can’t double-team when all three of us are on the floor. Too much versatility on the back side and high-powered weapons.”
Booker especially looked right back to himself with the tempo he was playing with.
“I try to pride myself on making the right plays and reading the defense and trying to see what the defense is giving up,” Booker said. “And when you have a super-talented team with a lot of options, we get clean looks every time. There’s spots to the game when I can facilitate and that opens up more opportunities to score.”
Beal’s energy continues to be all over the floor. He got the rare distinction on Tuesday of getting LeBron James with James’ own signature move, the chase-down block.
BEAL WITH THE CHASE DOWN ON LEBRON 😱 pic.twitter.com/FYWQwRFTBy
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 27, 2024
He stood there for about 15 seconds and it wasn’t clear from afar the reason why.
“I was just looking at my kids,” Beal said. “My kids were hype over there. … They love ‘Bron so I think probably me blocking his shot was probably the highlight of their night. I was just giving them a little love.”
We were right back on schedule with a stellar Suns stint carrying them in an otherwise below-average-to-above-average performance. Jusuf Nurkic started the third quarter by scoring Phoenix’s first 10 points after another shaky first half. Booker followed his lead with the Suns’ next 11 points, and a much-needed pair of 3s for Royce O’Neale had the Suns up 17.
The Lakers look much better this year but there’s still remnants of the previous couple of iterations in there, teams that will completely disengage at a moment’s notice. That made it an interesting moment in the late third quarter, with a flight to San Antonio looming later in the night and L.A. coming off a brutal 25-point loss to the Denver Nuggets.
It was also interesting because the Suns, when fully healthy, have struggled to put teams away in blowout fashion. Across the 8-1 start, Phoenix held a fourth-quarter, double-digit lead in only two of those contests and both of them got somewhat hairy in the closing minutes. It is understandably a minor complaint while at the same time something great teams do in the regular season that helps over time.
A Beal 3 to begin the fourth quarter put the Suns up 23 and the Lakers did not show any fight in response.
“Any rest that we can get, and we pride ourselves on being a deep team,” Booker said. “So hopefully more games to come like this, so we can keep KD off the court for 38 minutes or keep Brad off the court for that long too — it’s a long season. So whenever you can get out and get an early lead, it’s important.”
Nurkic missed his first five shots before making five of his final six attempts. He had 12 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in 27 minutes. This was another night of extremes when it came to his quality of play, both good and bad. His screening for Booker, particularly in the third quarter after his own scoring run, was a factor.
Los Angeles’ execution was subpar, and you don’t even have to watch the basketball to notice it. JJ Redick will lose it on only a possession or two, but when he does, you know it’s a basic rotation and/or something the coaching staff has been repeatedly preaching. To the aforementioned point, the Lakers mentally disconnect all the time for mind-boggling mistakes, the type that we say “drive coaches crazy.” But you can actually see it in real time driving the coach crazy!
Anthony Davis had the quietest 25 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks you’ll ever see. It was not quite the clunker that James had in the previous meeting between these two teams but 7-of-16 shooting with 18 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and five turnovers still qualifies as one to his standards. James was a game-low -30.
The Suns now lead Group A of the NBA Cup with a 2-1 record and +19 point differential. The San Antonio Spurs (+14) and Lakers (-16) also sit at 2-1. The Oklahoma City Thunder are 1-1 and loom with a +10 margin. Phoenix ends this portion of the tournament against San Antonio, while the Thunder still have to play versus the Lakers and Utah Jazz.
The lone wild card spot in the West, for what it’s worth, sits with the 2-1 Dallas Mavericks at +41. They are in Group C with the 3-0 Golden State Warriors (+12), who beat Dallas already to clinch the tiebreaker, so the Mavericks can only get in via that wild card spot. They play the Memphis Grizzlies to wrap up group play. So, if the Mavericks win, they’re going to be in unless the Lakers, Spurs, Suns or Thunder pull off some crazy routs at the last second.
The Thunder and Lakers play on Friday, which will give us a good indication of the stakes for Suns vs. Spurs on Dec. 3.
O’Neale went 3-for-6 from deep in what the Suns need to be a bounce-back shooting night after the funk he found himself in when the Suns were shorthanded. Grayson Allen has now had positive performances in three of his last four. He scored 10 points, eight of which came in the first quarter.
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