On December 28, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Rockets played against the Suns at home. The Suns have been in a slump recently, but this time they came up early and got into the groove, and the veteran Gordon returned to his hometown and felt hot, scoring 21 points in the first half to help the team take the initiative, and the Suns have been in the initiative since then. In the end, the Suns defeated the Rockets 129-113 on the road, giving the Rockets two straight defeats.
Not only has the Suns' morale been sluggish recently, but there have also been some internal discord, with Gordon unhappy with the team's role arrangement and Durant frustrated with the team's roster. This time, the team finally played with the momentum it deserved, Gordon showed his ability and can still make a lot of contributions, while Durant showed his versatility, dishing out 10 assists in the first half, and their excellent performance also helped the team to stay on the initiative and finally achieve a 16-point victory.
In this game, the Rockets failed to continue the momentum at home, and there was no way to face the Suns, and they were beaten back to their original shape, which can also see the impact of Brooks' absence on the team. The defense couldn't limit the opponent, and 43 points were conceded in the second quarter. In addition, Smith Jr. also had an injury in this game, and he has had some trouble in recent times, and this time he also suffered a complete defeat. The three-point shooting was good, hitting 17 three-pointers, but unfortunately it still couldn't close the score.
This time, the Rockets duo Shin Kyung and Green both played and scored 47 points together, but unfortunately it became an empty cut. Green's state was very sluggish before, and he was abandoned in the final quarter, but this time he finally found some form, but unfortunately the team fell behind by a large score, and still only played 25 minutes, scoring 23 points on 6-of-12 three-point shooting. And Shen Jing was in good shape, shooting 9 of 18 and getting 24 points and 5 rebounds. The rest of the players didn't play well, and the team didn't get the Suns in trouble.
Durant ushered in an outburst this time, and in the face of rumors from the outside world, he directly responded with a fiery performance, shooting 9 of 16, 3 of 7 three-pointers, 6 of 8 free throws, and got a triple-double of 27 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists. He is only the fourth player in Suns history to score at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists in a single game, and his 16 assists also tied his career high. Gordon was not soft on his old master, scoring 27 points on 7-of-11 three-point shooting, while Booker also had 20 points and seven assists.