On February 14, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Suns hosted the Kings. Previously, the Suns had a 31-22 record and ranked sixth in the West, and the Kings had a 30-22 record and ranked seventh in the West. Typical significance: In the battle of card positions, no one can afford to lose. At the trade deadline, the Suns sent Yuta Watanabe, Metu, Diop, Goodwin and three second-round picks in exchange for Royce O'Neal and Roddy in order to add depth on the wings. However, the Suns' reinforcement is not over yet, and the team reporter Larkin reported that the Suns have signed veteran Thaddeus Young, in addition, the Suns are also very interested in Gallinari, and the team still has a spot to use. The Suns currently have two problems, the first is that Durant has been playing for too long and he needs to rest. Durant is averaging 37.1 minutes per game this season, fourth in the league, which is already overloaded.
The second is that the team's defense is very average, which itself has to do with Bookerbeal's two-backcourt partnership. And the Kings are a team that is easy to underestimate, with 4 players averaging 15+ points per game, Fox and Sabonis dual-core system, although this season's offense is not as prominent as last season, but the defensive improvement is obvious, in addition to the third in the league in three-point shooting per game, but the overall performance is not very stable, after a shock defeat to the Pistons 6 days ago, then beat the defending champion Nuggets by 29 points. To put it simply, if the Suns want to win, they can't let the Kings play their own rhythm, and they can easily find their touch on the outside, and it is difficult to use the Suns' defensive performance! The two teams have met three times before, and the Suns have won 1-2, losing 2 games by a total of 25 points, and winning 1 game by 2 points. Suns starters: Booker + Beal + Allen + Durant + Nurkic.
Kings starters: Fox + Huerter + Barnes + Murray + Sabonis. At the beginning of the game, Fox hit an open three-pointer, Durant singled Barnes, Nurkic skated and dunked, and after Huerter stopped the bleeding with three points, Beal and Durant rained three-pointers. In the middle of the period, Fox made another empty three-pointer, Booker and Gordon took turns to break through, and Gordon's three-pointer from the bottom corner slowly opened up the difference. The Sun and the Kings are playing against each other, and the offensive firepower must be guaranteed. Fox singled back to stop the Suns, Beal went straight back to the locker room, and then Huerter and Allen were also battling three-pointers. But in the second half, the king suddenly made a force: Sabonis scored one after another, Monk tossed, Sabonis made a tough layup and then hit, the king scored 15 points in just 3 minutes, and the king overtook the Suns 39-38 in the first quarter. The sun really can't be stopped, all kinds of big vacancies.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Fox and Monk continued to take turns to play singles, Durant stopped the King with consecutive jump shots, and then Fox hit three points, Huerter and Sabonis played counterattacks in a row, and Monk broke through the flying two-handed dunk! The King wrapped Durant with a good effect, and Monk scored points in three consecutive rounds, leading the King to open an 11-point difference. In the second half, it was the veteran Gordon who made a three-point shot to stop the bleeding, after which Mitchell and Gordon continued to compete for three points, Sabonis forced Durant, Gordon dunked miraculously at the end of the quarter, Allen and Durant continued to narrow the difference, and at the end of the half, the Suns chased the 64-67 Kings. Gordon scored 20 points alone, Durant had 13 points and six assists, Allen had 12 points, and Booker had five points and five assists. On the Kings' side, Sabonis had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, and Fox had 17 points.
Coming back in the second half, Barnes continued to score three points, Fox and Sabonis led the team to a 9-1 climax, Durant made a difficult jumper to stop the bleeding, and combined with Nurkic to make a fuss on the inside and bite the score. In the middle of the section, Fox hit three points + broke through to create a kill, and the two teams maintained a gap of about 10 points. In the second half, it was finally Booker's turn: after a difficult pull-up jump shot was scored, Allen hit a three-pointer, Booker continued to attack the basket and lead the team to tie the score. Sabonis got an early triple-double, the 18th time this season, first in the league! At the end of the quarter, Okogie continued to score three points, and Booker continued to break through with high difficulty to score a rebound! At the end of the third quarter, the Suns led the Kings 94-92. And according to the official news of the Suns, Beal suffered a strained left hamstring and withdrew from the game!
In the fourth quarter, Durant + Gordon + O'Neal hit three three-pointers in a row, instantly opening up the difference! Sabonis threw himself and grabbed himself, Durant continued to pull high, and Little also continued to score three points. Fox and Barnes continued to narrow the gap, and after Sabonis scored a basket, the Kings erased the gap 10-0! In the last 2 minutes, Booker scored consecutive jumpers, Durant made a mistake and was counterattacked by the opponent, and O'Neal and Fox exchanged three points. In the last 30 seconds, Booker jumped + consecutive free throws, Allen also grabbed a key rebound, and then Allen made free throws to kill the suspense of the game! Finally, the Suns defeated the Kings 130-125!
Suns statistics, Durant 28 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists, Booker 25 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals, Gordon 23 points, Allen 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Nurkic 9 points and 9 rebounds. Kings statistics, Sabonis 35 points, 18 rebounds, 12 assists and 3 blocks, Fox 40 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, Monk 22 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists, Huerter 10 points and 3 rebounds, Barnes 9 points and 5 rebounds.