The Suns chased the Clippers, Durant scored 24 points, Green 34 5, Booker 35 7!
With the official NBA game over, the Phoenix Suns will play Houston at home. The Suns are 34-24 and are in 5th place in the East, while the Rockets are 25-33 and are 12th in the East. The two teams met six days ago, when the Rockets were defeated by 16 points by the teams led by Jia Jr., Van Jordan, and Amen Thompson! The Rockets went from the bottom of the West at the beginning of the season, gradually falling behind the second-tier teams, and eventually lost the qualification to enter the playoffs. First of all, due to Ethan's leg injury, the Rockets are missing a strong link shield and Lingling, while Amen Thompson and Whitmore have excellent skills and agility, but their footwork is mediocre. Secondly, the Rockets' management team did not want to achieve good results at the beginning of the season, and even the request of the Ukrainian boss to strengthen the team was denied.
In contrast, the pressure from sunlight is much greater. From the Suns to Golden State and then to Golden State, the overall strength of this team is very strong, and the gap between the two sides is only 3In about 5 games, if you are not careful, you will fall to the top ten, and then it will be a battle of life and death! The Suns have reached 6% of their record this season, but they have two biggest problems: first, they don't have enough team cooperation, and the cooperation of Booker and Durant makes them the most unsuccessful players in the fourth quarter. Second, this team already has a lot of problems, Beal has had back and ankle injuries since the start of the season, and now he is suffering from tendon problems, he averages 18,5 rebounds per game! Their performances weren't great, and their assists weren't guaranteed, which made both Durant and Booker a little tired.
According to coach Vogel, Beal will return for Saturday's league game against Houston, where he will face the Thunder. The Suns fielded Booker, Allen, O'Neal, Durant and Nurkic, both of whom were off the bench. Currently, the Rockets' starting list is: VanVleet, Jalen Green, Brooks, Jabari Smith, Shen Jingsi. Durant and Booker hit a three-pointer in quick succession, then Jalen Green hit back-to-back three-pointers, and then Booker and Allen hit three-pointers in quick succession. Five minutes later, the Suns exploded, and after Booker blocked the pick-and-roll, Brooks made another three-pointer, and Booker shot again and hit a three-point shot! After that, Booker coached Holiday and allowed Saben Lee to score to make the game 16-0. Jabari Smith hit a three-pointer at the end of the quarter, and Jeff Green and Booker were also contributing to the three-point race.
In the first quarter of the game, Booker scored 20 points alone, and the Suns led 33-17. In the second quarter, Whitmore kept scoring, but Durant's three-pointer stopped the Rockets. The Suns trailed by 21 points, and Jalen Green scored 11 straight points in the game to help the Suns stop the decline. In the first half, Jalen Green hit consecutive three-pointers, Durant took Nurkic as a cake, Booker and O'Neal defended desperately on and off the court in the second half, VanVleet made three consecutive three-point shots, and after Whitmore broke through the two, another slam dunk, followed by another slam dunk. With the help of Allen and Booker on consecutive three-pointers, Brooks ended the game with a score of 53-64 at halftime.
Jalen Green scored 21 points, Booker had 26 rebounds and five rebounds in the first half, and Durant had 10 and five assists. In terms of speed, this round of the sun is definitely more than a rocket. Booker and O'Neal led the lead to a widening score at the start of the second half, and a foul on VanVleet halted the slump at the start of the first half. After that, Jalen Green scored back-to-back points and caused damage in a row, Durant dribbled to the basket, and both teams scored on free throws. In the second half, Durant touched the ground with his hand, Jalen Green immediately responded with a three-pointer, and then Whitmore and Jabari Smith attacked aggressively, and after three quarters, the Rockets led the Suns 86-75.
In the fourth quarter, Longdell's unexpected layup gave the Rockets a big comeback with seven points. Durant made a pull-up throw despite Jabari Smith's interference. Whitmore followed up with another layup, and the Suns were soon deadlocked. Halfway through the game, Shen Jing was sent off for throwing a bottle of water at the referee, and then Nurkic scored another penalty to score 15 for the Suns. VanVleet and Longdale scored another 2+1 in 5 minutes of the game, and so did VanVleet's three points, while Jalen Green only scored 6 points! Towards the end of the game, Whitmore made a foul, O'Neal made a three-pointer, and the Suns won a hard-fought 110-105 victory over Houston, and the Rockets lost a 21-point opportunity!
As things stand, Jalen Green had 34 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks; VanVleet 21-6 rebounds and 5 assists; Whitmore had eight rebounds in 14; Jabari Smith 11 with 16 rebounds; Shin Kyung had 8, 3 rebounds and 4 assists; Randle had eight and six rebounds. For the Suns, Booker 35, 7 boards, 3, Durant 24, 7, 6, Nurkic, 16, 13, O'Neal, 11, 6, 7, 7. After this game, the Suns have won 35 games and 24 wins, just three games short of the Clippers!