On December 28, Beijing time, a key battle was staged in the West during the 2023-24 NBA regular season, and the Houston Rockets sat back-to-back at home to face the visiting Phoenix Suns. The Rockets lost their last game to the Pacers by six points in the final minute, swallowing their 13th loss of the season and currently sitting in 8th place in the West. The Suns suffered a three-game losing streak to the Mavericks in their last game and are currently 14-15 in 11th place in the West. The poor record also made Durant dissatisfied, and there seemed to be an undercurrent surging inside.
In the first quarter of the game, both teams had a poor feel on the outside, with the Suns going 2-of-8 and the Rockets only 1-of-6. The Suns also had a slight advantage in the interior competition, scoring 30 points in a single quarterDurant lacked offensive desire in the first quarter, only made 1 shot, and relied on free throws to score 1 point;Booker scored 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting, and the duo combined for 6 points in the first quarter, but thanks to the good performance of other players, the Rockets led by 6 points at 30-24 in the first quarter
The wind and clouds suddenly changed in the second quarter, and the sun suddenly warmed up and was in full swing!The Suns shot 6 of 8 from the field in this quarter, missed 3 inside shots, and got a lot of free throws, scoring 43 points in a single quarter!Durant started to work hard in the quarter, scoring 9 points on 3-of-5 shootingBut the most firepower is Gordon, the 35-year-old veteran dreams of returning to the top, scoring 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the single quarter, including 5-of-6 3-pointers!Although the Rockets felt warm in the quarter, they couldn't stop the Suns from pulling the difference away, and the Suns led by 18 points at halftime 73-55!
In the third quarter, the Suns felt down, but the Rockets failed to take advantage of the opportunity to close the difference. The Rockets increased the number of outside shots in this quarter, hitting 5 of 12 3-pointers, and although the Suns were only 2 of 6 3-pointers, the efficiency of the interior was quite high, and they missed a total of 3 shots!Booker finally found his sense in this quarter, scoring 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and the score also came to 20+, but Gordon, who was hot in the first 2 quarters, didn't score a point on 0 shots in this quarterShin Kyung also scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the quarter, but the other players failed to continue the firepower, and the Suns still led by as many as 20 points at 104-84 in the third quarter!
In the final quarter, Ethan hit a 3-pointer first, and Whitmore received an assist from Amen Thompson to score 3 pointsSeeing that the Rockets were about to get up, Durant stood up at the critical moment and received a pass from Lee and pierced the heart with an arrow from the outsideAfter that, the Rockets continued to bet on the outside, hoping to seize the time to chase the score, but the shooting rate was average, but the Rockets still narrowed the gap to 15 points step by step;At the critical moment, Gordon shot again, a cold 3-point shot from the outside and then hit, Durant continued to lean up, Gordon hit another 3-pointer, the difference came to 16 points, and the last 2 and a half minutes, the game basically lost suspense. In the end, the Suns defeated the Rockets 129-113 to end a three-game losing streak and send their opponent to a two-game losing streak.
In this game, the Suns scored 20+ points with 3 points!Durant 27 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists, Gordon 27 points, Nurkic 8 points and 10 boards, Booker 20 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, Allen 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Azubuke 11 points and 5 boards, Saben Lee 9 points and 2 boards, Little 7 points and 6 boards, Metu 4 points and 2 boards;
On the Rockets' side, Shen Jing had 24 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals, Jalen Green had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, VanVleet had 10 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists, Tate had 7 points and 2 boards, Eason had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 5 steals, Holiday had 13 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Whitmore had 12 points, Amen had 2 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Landale had 5 points and 5 boards, and Jeff Green had 2 points. Sports Premiere Creation Challenge