Kevin Durant delivers, bench big: Takeaways from Phoenix Suns' 'response' win over Denver Nuggets

DENVER – Frank Vogel said they’d be ready.

The Phoenix Suns certainly were in taking care of the defending NBA champion Denver for a second time this month at Ball Arena, 104-97, Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 19,827.

Kevin Durant posted a vintage double-double of 30 points and 13 rebounds to go along with five blocks, the Suns (43-30) shot 16-of-33 from 3 and got solid play out of their bench in a much-needed win after Monday’s bad loss at San Antonio.

Vogel called the 104-102 defeat to the Spurs minus injured rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama “unacceptable” and vowed the Suns would be up for the challenge of facing the Nuggets.

“Our guys will be locked in tonight,” the Suns' head coach said before the game.

Phoenix won its first game without Jusuf Nurkic, who sprained his right ankle in the third quarter of Monday’s loss. The Suns were previously 0-4 minus the 7-footer.

Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic paced the Nuggets with 22 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds as Jamal Murray sat out with right knee inflammation.

The Nuggets (51-22) are 15-3 since the All-Star break. Two of those losses have come against the Suns, who won the season series, 2-1, over Denver.

Here are takeaways from Wednesday’s win as Phoenix continues a five-game road trip Friday at Oklahoma City (50-22). The Thunder fell to Houston, the hottest team in the NBA, 132-126, in OKC. The Rockets (37-35) have won their last 10 games.

Durant sets the tone

Don’t let the age or a shooting slump or not always having that bounce he once had fool you.

Durant is still that dude and proved it against the defending champions.

He was in rhythm offensively and didn’t settle. The Suns want to generate more 3-point attempts and while Durant is knocking down 41.8% of them this season, he doesn’t have to force them like he has recently.

Durant is a scorer. He’ll find the 3 in rhythm. Now he did commit eight freaking turnovers, but he played through them and stayed on task.

With Nurkic out, Durant got on the defensive glass and cleaned house. No early leak outs.

Defensively, the swats set a defensive tone, but he played position defense all night. Taking a charge late from Aaron Gordon with the Suns up 12 personified how he performed on that end.

Beyond that, Durant looked all business that fell right in line with what he said after Tuesday’s practice.

“We know what needs to be done,” Durant said. “Conversation is cool, communication is cool, letting everybody know what we need to do out there, but you still got to put our bodies in action to do it. It's a difference between going to do something and just talking about it."

Durant’s game screamed and yelled Wednesday. That’s what the Suns needed more than anything he could say.

Statement win

You can’t have your head coach say what Vogel said and not win, even if it’s against the Nuggets.

Denver certainly missed Murray, who is a nightmare to guard because of his crafty handle and shot-making ability. He would’ve made a difference, but this was more about responding to Monday’s loss.

The Suns did that in a variety of ways.

Bradley Beal starting hot with that injured ring finger that was noticeably bothering him. He was shaking it pregame and during the game, but Beal battled through the pain in finishing with 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Devin Booker didn't shoot it well either in scoring 17 points on 17 shot attempts (made five), but had five rebounds, nine assists and only committed two turnovers.

The Suns limited Jokic early to build a lead and showed better closeouts in playing one of their better defensive games. They also responded to Denver's charge in the third to cut their 15-point lead down to three with an 8-0 burst to back up double digits, 79-68, forcing the Nuggets to call a timeout with 2:42 left in the quarter.

Now this win doesn’t mean the Suns are a championship contender. They didn’t exactly close the game out the best way and fortunate Denver couldn’t capitalize. They also committed 17 turnovers that led to 18 Denver points, but the Suns took heed to Vogel's call to get back on defense in limiting the Nuggets to five fast break points.

The Nuggets aren’t suddenly going to start losing at an alarming rate. This team is too good with a head coach in Michael Malone who isn’t having that. Plus they're going to go 10-of-40 from 3 too often.

However, the Suns needed to prove to themselves they can respond after a bad loss when hearing what Devin Booker called “outside noise,” play well and beat a great team.

They’re far from fixed. Still turning the ball over, still struggling to finish, but the Suns leave Denver knowing they can win there.

That’s big because Phoenix might have to see them again in the first round.

The Suns are trying to rise to the top six, but face the toughest remaining schedule. So they could wind up seventh or eighth. Denver is first right now in the West and probably won’t drop below two.

This could be a first round matchup that’d start in Denver. Mentally, the Suns might have an edge after winning two in the mile high city.

Bench delivered, minutes for Young?

The Suns didn’t have 47 bench points like they did in recent back-to-back wins over the Hawks and Spurs, but reserves were just as impactful Wednesday night.

Eric Gordon scored 10 points, hitting 2-of-5 from 3 while Bol Bol added eight with one coming on a dribble pull up. He has so much to his offensive game, but played within himself, moved the ball for open 3s and went 2-of-2 from deep.

Defense is still a corner for Bol, but he has found a comfort zone. Royce O’Neale added five points, seven rebounds and didn’t commit a turnover.

The Suns started Eubanks for Nurkic and he was solid. Had some key tap outs to extend possessions, but Thaddeus Young came in and played well enough to make Vogel at least think about playing him more.

The veteran big who Phoenix signed after the All-Star break has only played more than 10 minutes in a game twice since logging 19 in his Suns debut Feb. 23 at Houston. He has only played in six games with his new team, but Young's play Wednesday's earned an endorsement from Booker.

"It's going to be tough to keep him off the floor now," Booker said.

Young's six points were a bonus, but the nine rebounds with four on the offensive glass is something they don’t get out of the backup bigs. He also did a good job on Jokic in terms of keeping his hands on him in a way that wasn’t rough, but consistent.

Hand placement on Jokic’s hip here, take it off, put it back. He established to Jokic he wasn’t just going to pull him underneath the basket by keeping that hand on him and playing with space and speed behind that.

The question now becomes did Young do enough to earn some minutes?

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant delivers: Takeaways from Suns 'response' win over Nuggets