On December 20, Beijing time, the 2023-24 NBA regular season was in full swing, and the Phoenix Suns challenged the Portland Trail Blazers as a guest. The Suns ended a two-game losing streak by beating the Wizards last time out and are currently 14-12 in 10th place in the West. Such a record obviously did not live up to expectations, but the frequent injuries at the core of the team had a big impact. The Big Three have combined once, but after only a few minutes of play, Bill was injured again. The Trail Blazers suffered a seven-game losing streak to the Warriors in their last game and are currently in the bottom 2 of the West, and advancing to the playoffs is basically an extravagant hope.
Beal continued to be absent in this game, with Durant and Booker leading the team, and Little, Nurkic, and Allen joining forces; On the Trail Blazers' side, Kamara, Grant, Ayton, Sharpe, and Simmons started the game.
In the first quarter, the Suns took the lead, firmly suppressing the Trail Blazers with ferocious firepower on the inside and quickly widening the difference. The Suns made 5 3-pointers from the outside and hit 2 times in this quarter, and the inside shooting rate was extremely high, shooting 12 of 15! The Trailblazers frequently hit iron inside and outside, 2 of 6 3-pointers, and a total of 3 shots on the inside, such a sluggish performance could not resist the Suns' full firepower, and the Suns opened a 16-point gap 36-20 in the first quarter!
The Suns slipped in the second quarter, but the Trail Blazers didn't take the opportunity to close the margin too much. In this quarter, the Suns made 1 of 7 from the outside and 7 of 18 from the inside, and the shooting rate dropped seriously, scoring only 25 points in a single quarter; The Trail Blazers hit four 3-pointers from the outside, and the interior scoring efficiency was also higher, scoring 29 points in the quarter to bring the total score to 61-49, and the Suns entered the second half with a 12-point advantage;
Yibian fought again, the situation suddenly changed in the second half, the Suns suddenly collectively lost power, and the Trail Blazers played a wave of offensive frenzy, looking to smooth out the point difference and overtake! The slump of the Suns in this section is really scary, only 12 points have been scored in the past 9 minutes, and a total of 3 goals have been hit, while the Trail Blazers have scored 31 points with full firepower inside and outside, completing the overtake in one fell swoop! After that, the Trail Blazers continued to widen the point difference, and at the end of the quarter, the Trail Blazers overtook by 6 points 87-81;
In the final quarter, Bukela's layup chased 2 points first, and Gordon made 2 fouls and 2 free throws, and the difference came to 2 points! Simmons accelerated to the basket and dunked, Thybulle made 2 fouls and made 2 free throws, and Booker hit the inside line and hit a layup; Simmons got up and down at the top of the arc, and the 3 points were hollow into the net! stopped the sun; After the pause, Ayton threw a bomb in, Durant relied on Brogdon to turn over the golden rooster and hit it independently, Ayton hit the middle shot, Simmons stopped and hit again, and the difference came to double digits! In the end, the Suns were unable to turn the tide and lost 109-104, and the Trail Blazers ended a seven-game losing streak.
In this game, Durant scored 40 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Booker 26 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Nurkic 9 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists, Allen 11 points and 9 boards, Gordon 5 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Goodwin 2 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, Eubanks 5 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, Little 4 points and 2 boards;
For the Trail Blazers, Simmons had 23 points, 3 rebounds and 7 assists, Grant had 22 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists, Ayton had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists, Brogdon had 14 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Henderson had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Kamara had 5 points and 9 boards, Sable had 8 points and 1 board, and Walker had 9 points and 2 boards. Sports Premiere Creation Challenge