On mid-December night at home vs the Wizards, the Suns were trailing behind early on. After being down 21-9 midway through the first quarter, Kevin Durant took matters into his own hands.
Breaking away, and getting into the paint for a few slams, he finished the quarter with 11 points. Shortly after Durant’s run the Wizards were able to fight back, ending the quarter 29-21.
As the second quarter started, the Suns came out of the break strongly, as they were down 29-27. The Wizards eventually answered back, pushing the lead back up to 39-31. Then ending the half up 58-46. It was a tough half for Devin Booker, with 10 points on 4-13 shooting. During certain offensive sets it was unclear what the game plan was.
The third quarter was better, but not by much. The Suns cut the lead down to 8 (89-81), but things on the defensive side needed to be cleaned up. Being in foul trouble will not help your case while trying to win.
Once the fourth quarter was underway the Suns weren’t holding back. Fans erupted as the Suns got it down to one (91-90). Devin Booker did not let his struggles from early on affect him long term. Drew Eubanks was a big factor in the comeback, getting wide open dunks and key rebounds. Another key contributor was Jordan Goodwin making the right plays and cleaning second chance points. On the Wizards side of things Daniel Gafford and Tyus Jones made this game extremely hard for the Suns. Gafford making the right plays inside, and Jones knocking down three’s that were used for the Wizards momentum.
The overall atmosphere changed when the Suns took charge. It went from being so silent that you can hear a penny drop, to being so loud to where you couldn’t hear anyone near you. In hindsight, the Suns shouldn’t have gotten themselves as much trouble as they did. Until the fourth they were trailing for most of the game. Although the Suns got the result they wanted, they shouldn’t be anywhere close to satisfied. They still have to address many things on the court, and maybe adding a few contributing players down the road would help their case.Kevin Durant had to put an exclamation point on the game, with a late fourth quarter jam on Daniel Gafford. The Suns ended up defeating the Wizards 112-108 improving to 14-12 on the young season.
