On December 18, Beijing time, the NBA regular season game continued. The Phoenix Suns are at home and take on the challenge of the Washington Wizards. The Suns, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first three quarters, staged a comeback in the final quarter. In the end, the Suns narrowly defeated the Wizards 112-108, ending the previous two-game losing streak.
Suns (14-12): Durant 28 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Booker 27 points and 8 assists, Nurkic 6 points, 17 rebounds and 5 assists, Gordon 12 points.
Wizards (4-21): Gafford 26 points and 16 rebounds, Jones 22 points, 11 assists and 6 steals, Kuzma 17 points and 7 rebounds, Poole 14 points.
In the first quarter, the Wizards blossomed more and played a 10-0 attack wave, and the Wizards led the Suns by 12 points at 6:18 21-9. Durant scored five straight points to lead the team to an 8-0 run, and the Suns narrowed the gap. In the final minute, the Wizards scored five straight points to end the first quarter with an eight-point lead at 29-21.
In the second quarter, Eubanks and Gordon scored six straight points to tie the score to 27-29. Jones and Gallinari hit back-to-back three-pointers as the Wizards pulled the deficit away again. After that, the Wizards played two more waves of 7-0 scoring climaxes, and the Wizards led by 16 points at 2:55. Booker stepped up in key moments and led the Suns to close the gap. At halftime, the Wizards led by 12 points at 58-46.
Koulibaly hit a three-pointer with 6:03 left in the third quarter to give the Wizards a 77-62 lead to 15 points. Booker and Durant led the team to chase consecutive points, and the Suns chased 72-80 with 3:23. Gafford made it 2+1, Kispert and Poole hit three-pointers one after another, and the Wizards regained their steady. Eubanks scored four straight points in the final 1:10 to put the Suns up 81-89 in the third quarter.
The Suns started the game with a 9-2 run in the final quarter, and Booker's three-point shot helped the team chase 90-91 at 8:50, and the Wizards called a timeout. After the timeout, the Wizards still couldn't contain the Suns' momentum, and Booker hit a three-point shot with 7:17 left to give the Suns a 96-95 lead. Allen scored five straight points and the Suns went on a 9-0 run to give them an eight-point lead at 105-97 with 3:24. The Wizards didn't give up, and in the final 41.4 seconds, Gafford scored a layup to make it 106-107 with only one point separating the two sides. At the critical moment, Durant scored 2+1 to help the Suns gain a 4-point advantage. In the end, the game was over, and the Suns won 112-108.