The 2022-2023 NBA regular season is in full swing, and today ushered in a highlight game, with the Suns taking on the Bulls on the road, Durant's second game since joining the Suns. Durant made his career debut for the Suns last time and scored 23 points, and the Suns easily beat the Hornets to win the game; The Bulls have been doing well lately, winning their third game in their last four games after beating the Pistons.
At the beginning of the game, the Suns' strong strength could not be concealed, the giants were not yet powerful, and Okogie took the lead, slashing 13 consecutive points in the opening game. Then the Lord came out and Booker stepped up and scored 16 points, no doubt no one could stand it, and the Suns led by double digits until the middle of the second quarter. Then, the sun suddenly turned off, Paul, Ayton, and Booker suddenly missed any shots, and they scored only five points with six minutes left in the half, while the Bulls, led by LaVine (who scored 12 points alone), threw a wave of 21-5 offense to end the first half with a four-point run at 64-60.
Easy side battle, Booker and Durant took turns to shoot jumpers, began to show terrifying offensive power, the two teamed up to cut the team's first 13 points, a wave of 13-4 offensive to regain the initiative; However, the Suns could not completely break the Bulls, the Bulls resisted stubbornly, DeRozan hit a shot, Vucevic hit a basket, and the Bulls did not let the point gap continue to widen. In the final moments of the quarter, the Suns finally seized the opportunity, and Paul stepped up and hit three consecutive three-pointers to deliver a 16-2 offensive run to extend the gap to 21 points and completely kill the game. In the end, the Suns won the game 125-104 against the Bulls.
In terms of statistics, the Suns' Booker played 35 minutes, shooting 12 of 24, 6 of 10 from three-point range, 5 of 6 from the free throw line, and scored a team-high 35 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, with a plus-minus of +23. Booker scored 72 points in his first two games with Durant. Booker scored 37 points against the Hornets and shot 64.6% from the field; Booker scored 35 points today and shot 65.7 percent from the field. Under Durant's containment, Booker's attack power and efficiency have reached another level. Josh Orkogi had 25 points, 4 rebounds and 0 assists on 7-of-15 shooting. Durant started 30 minutes, had 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, and made just 10 shots and hit 7 of them. Ayton scored 7 points on 2-of-4 shooting, and Paul hit 3-of-7 from three-point range, scoring 11 points and making 10 minutes, as well as six rebounds and two steals. After this campaign, the Suns had a 35-29 record and were ranked 4th.
On the Bulls side, DeRozan had 31 points, 0 rebounds and 6 assists, shooting 13-of-18 from the field. LaVine had 27 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists on 8-of-21 shooting. Vucevic had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists on 6-of-15 shooting. The Bulls have a 29-35 record and are 11th.
Durant is the strongest scorer I've ever seen the least intentional player to get points, basically teammates are down the wind you can hardly see him deliberately to get the ball, basically pass the ball to teammates with better hands, really selfless; Even if you come to the Warriors' second championship and do a lot of balls for Curry, it's a pity that Silly Ku can't seize the opportunity, but when Adu has a chance, it's hard to see him throw the ball, so the Finals MVP is really deserved, even after returning from a big injury, it is basically unsolvable.
Suns star Devin Booker said in an interview after the game: "There are not many games left in the playoffs, so we are trying to start playoff mode now and get into shape quickly. We are prepared to go to the end. After this game, KD surpassed Oscar Robertson (26,710 points) in career points to move up to 13th in NBA history
The Suns were originally a strong team, now that Durant has joined, the team has transformed into a championship-level team, the West should be the guarantee, and the biggest opponent is probably the Warriors.