Enjoy the New Year
Today, the Suns host the Bucks, Da Luo and Lillard are out due to injury, and the Suns starters: Booker, Beal, Allen, Durant, Nurkic; Bucks starters: Beasley, Connaughton, Middleton, Antetokounmpo, Jr. Lowe.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Beasley and Booker started to fight, and Middleton also came with three points, and the Bucks led 9-4. Beal made a layup and Booker's foul free throw to stop the bleeding, and Booker hit another 2+1 shot before entering the first timeout. After this timeout, the offensive success rate of both teams was not high, Durant hit a shot, Nurkic scored twice under the basket, and the Bucks called a timeout. Back in the game, the Suns' outside firepower turned on, and after the round-faced Deng three-point shot, Brother Alphabet scored under the basket in a row, and the Bucks led by one point at 23-22 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the two sides rotated the lineup, Durant and Beal led the team, Beal scored 5 points in a row, and the Suns blasted a wave of 7-0 small climax to surpass the opponent by 6 points. Then Crowder scored four points in a row with a layup and a free throw, and Brother Alphabet made another basket to tie it, and it was Vogel's turn to call a timeout. After returning from a timeout, Portis and Antetokounmpo both scored three-pointers to extend the Bucks' lead to four points, Beal made two fouls and Booker replaced Allen. Brother Alphabet was full of impact in this quarter, scoring at will in the face of the Suns' defense, but fortunately, Nurkic also had a big advantage under the basket, Durant counterattacked 2+1, Booker continued to shoot in the middle, and the Bucks led by only one point at halftime 49-48.
In the second half, Durant and Booker scored 5 points in a row, Nurkic made another basket under the basket, Booker made two free throws to lead to 5 points, and the Bucks took a timeout. After this timeout, the Suns continued to extend their lead with a three-pointer from the outside, and Brother Alphabet stepped up to close the gap for the team, first scoring himself and then assisting his teammates under the basket. However, Booker also felt hot and scored consecutive points and always maintained the lead. After Durant was replaced, the Bucks played a small surge, and Beasley hit a three-pointer from the bottom corner to chase down 71-73 by only two points, and the Suns took a timeout. Back in the game, the Suns quickly stabilized the situation, and after Beal hit a jumper, they led by six points at 79-73 at the end of the third quarter.
At the beginning of the final quarter, Booker rested, with Beal and Durant leading the team. Beal's three-pointer and Nurkic's 2+0 helped the Suns lead to 10 points, but Payne also scored four points on consecutive free throws to stop the bleeding. But Beal is in hot form, and Durant's violent dunk 2+1 ignites the whole court! The difference has come to 13 points, but Brother Alphabet immediately returned a breakthrough dunk, but Beal scored a tough second rebound, Booker came back, and Alphabet made another split dunk to make the Suns pause. Beal and Antetokounmpo both went down to rest, and Allen hit a three-pointer and added two free throws to reextend the lead to 14 points. Beasley responded with a three-pointer, Durant immediately hit a shot, Rivers called a timeout to switch back to Antetokounmpo, and the two sides entered the final showdown. Adu added a 2+0 plus a three-pointer, and stretched the difference to 15 points, setting the tone for the victory of the game in one fell swoop. The Bucks once chased down to only 8 points, but time was running out and the comeback failed.
In the end, the Suns defeated the Bucks 114-106 at home, let's take a look at the specific performance of the players!
In the first quarter of the game, when Durant was defending Middleton's shot, he maliciously stepped on his foot, and after the latter fell, he stepped on it and returned with a foot injury and could no longer play.
Through the slow-motion replay, we can clearly see that this time Durant is 100% malicious stepping up to hurt Middleton. The reason is simple, as we all know, in the '21 playoffs, Brother Alphabet stepped on Irving, which led to the Nets being finally eliminated. After 3 years, Durant is going to take revenge on the Bucks today!
In the first half, Adu shot 4-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. In the third quarter, he didn't have any offensive form, scoring only 2 points in a single quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Durant received Nurkic's pass and went straight to the inside, facing the death of Brother Alphabet who was making up for the defense, 2+1! Then he completely found the shooting touch, and stopped the opponent by scoring consecutive points.
In the whole game, Durant played 39 minutes, shooting 11-of-21, 1-of-5 three-pointers, 5-of-7 free throws, and contributed 28 points, 10 rebounds and 1 assist.
Big Lo and Lillard don't play, Middleton retired with an injury in the first quarter, and Brother Alphabet can be said to be alone and struggling to support.
He scored 10 points in the second quarter, shooting 6-of-13 from the field, 1-of-2 from three-point range, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line in the first half, scoring a team-high 14 points plus eight rebounds and two assists.
In the second half, Brother Alphabet did not lose firepower, and scored another 10 points in a single quarter in the third quarter. After he came up in the last quarter, he continued to dunk violently, but he really couldn't prevent the opposite sun, and the score difference could not be narrowed, and the reversal failed.
In this game, he played 39 minutes, shooting 13-of-24, 1-of-3 three-pointers, 7-of-13 free throws, and scoring 34 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists.
Beal was tepid on the offensive end in the first three quarters, scoring 9 points and 5 rebounds in the first half and 2 points in the third quarter. But in the crucial fourth quarter, he, as one of the Big Three, finally began to exert his strength.
In the first half of the fourth quarter, he scored nine straight points to help the Suns stretch the lead. In the final 45 seconds, he hit a step-back three-point shot to seal the victory.
In the whole game, Beal played 38 minutes, shooting 10-of-22, 2-of-8 three-pointers, 4-of-5 free throws, scoring a double-double of 25 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and scoring 14 points in the final quarter.
The best form of the Big Three is still Booker. In the first quarter, he was on fire, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Booker finished with 16 points and one assist on 6-of-10 shooting and 4-of-7 free throws in the first half.
In the third quarter, he was even more firepower, shooting and free throws in a single quarter, and scored 16 points alone!
In the whole game, Booker played 38 minutes, shooting 12-of-21, 2-of-6 three-pointers, and 6-of-10 free throws, and scored 32 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists.