What we learned as Kevin Durant leads Phoenix Suns past Utah Jazz in NBA In-Season Tournament

SALT LAKE CITY – This just wasn’t fair at all.

Ochai Agbaji plays hard, is talented and just in his second NBA season, but he found himself having to guard Kevin Durant on a switch with the game on the line and the home crowd roaring Friday night.

Shot clock winding down. Getting measured up by an all-time great.

Dribble. Between the legs. Hesitation. Rise up from deep.

Bang. Timeout Utah Jazz. Silence.

Suns up four with 18 seconds left.

Game essentially over.

Durant capped a 38-point night with a dagger 3 in leading the Phoenix Suns to a 131-128 thriller before a stunned sellout crowd of 18,206 at Delta Center.

Shooting 6-of-8 from 3, Durant also added nine rebounds and nine assists while Devin Booker posted a double-double of 24 points and a career-high 15 assists.

Jordan Clarkson paced the Jazz with 37 points, going 5-of-10 from 3, and Lauri Markkanen added 21.

Here are five things learned from this NBA In-Season Tournament group-play instant classic as the Suns (6-6) will face the Jazz (4-8) again Sunday in Salt Lake City.

Still alive

The Suns stay in contention for a wild card spot in the ‘knockout round,’ or quarterfinals with Friday’s victory that had eight ties and eight lead changes.

They are now 1-1 in West Group A while the Jazz dropped to 2-1.

With the Lakers winning at Portland to improve to 3-0 in group play, had the Suns lost to the Jazz, they would’ve been eliminated from quarterfinals contention.

Phoenix’s final group play games are Tuesday against Portland (3-9) and next Friday at Memphis (2-9).

The Blazers matchup will be Deandre Ayton’s first game in Phoenix since the three-team trade right before the start of training camp sent him to Portland.

That should be a wild night at Footprint Center. The Blazers are 1-2 in group play.

The Grizzlies are 0-3 and a shell of themselves without Ja Morant, who will still be serving his 25-game suspension when they face the Suns.

Phoenix should take the next two to finish second in West Group A play at 3-1 and put itself in good position for a ‘wild card’ berth into the quarterfinals.

The ‘wild card’ goes to a team from each conference with the best record in group play that finishes second in its group.

Suns coach Frank Vogel told the Suns how a loss would impact their chances of advancing. Beating Utah in the manner they did Friday should give the Suns extra juice to finish group play strong.

‘The right plan’

Bradley Beal will be out at least three more weeks rehabbing what the team is calling a low back strain. He then will be re-evaluated as he’s only played in three regular season games and two in the preseason mostly due to low back issues.

Vogel called this “the right plan” for Beal to finally get over this back situation. The Suns sure hope so.

They traded Chris Paul, Landry Shamet, four first-around pick swaps (2024, 2026, 2028 and 2030) and six second round picks (2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2030) to Washington in the offseason for Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Todd and Beal.

The Wizards later moved Paul to Golden State and received Jordan Poole in return.

The Suns dealt Todd and two future first-round pick swaps to the Grizzles and received three future second-round picks in return to help replenish giving so many to the Wizards.

Goodwin has been solid. He’s tough, can play the one and knock down 3s, but the Suns primarily made this move for two reasons.

They didn’t want to pay the 38-year-old Paul $30.8 million this season and wanted to bring in Beal to team him up with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to form a highly flammable scoring trio.

Through 12 games, their Big 3 has yet to play in the regular season together.

Wow.

They did share the court for the first half of two preseason games. Looked great in that small sample size.

Thought the Big 3 would make their regular season debut Wednesday against Minnesota, but Beal woke up that morning with what Vogel called “residual tightness” in his low back.

They thought it would loosen up by game time, but it didn’t.

Two days later, the Suns announced they were going to take time to really address what is ailing Beal, believing him playing games was slowing down his progress to getting better.

The Suns can certainly manage right now as Booker and Durant are leading an offense that has scored 133 and 131 points in the last two games without Beal.

Eric Gordon believes the Suns can average 120, 130 points game. They've done so in the last two games without him. Imagine what they could crank out with a guy who has averaged 30 twice in his NBA career?

Jusuf Nurkic, Booker and Durant have been injury prone in recent seasons. No one plays to get hurt, but if they can stay healthy, Phoenix will certainly weather being without Beal for the time being.

Durant not looking his age, number

Durant was 10 years younger at age 25 when he last averaged 30-plus points in a season – league-best 32 a game on 50.3% shooting overall, 39.1% from 3 in the 2013-14 season with Oklahoma City.

He played 81 of 82 regular season games.

Ten years later, Durant, at age 35, is averaging 30.8 points on 52.9% shooting overall, 50% from 3 through 12 games in the 2023-24 season and is only second to Joel Embiid in scoring average.

He hasn’t missed a game so far this season.

Durant not only still has it, but he’s reveling in this notion he’s an old man in a young man’s game.

Before hitting the game clincher, Durant took it to the playground in trying for a poster slam over high riser John Collins. Didn’t finish the play, but Durant drew a foul on Collins and made two free throws to give Phoenix a 126-123 lead with 51 seconds left.

The dagger 3 will get the most views and replays, as it should, but let’s say he doesn’t get the foul and the Jazz go up one or two with the way Clarkson was shooting that thing from 3.

Durant instead drew the foul by being aggressive in attacking the rim, made both free throws, giving the Suns that slight cushion to absorb Collins getting two free throws on the other end to make the difference one and set the scene for those late-game heroics from the 35-year-old.

Yep, Booker is the point guard

He established himself in the league as a bucket getter who can erupt and go for 70 points in a game. Booker then made gradual improvements as a playmaker. There's no one else on the team who can start at the position. Goodwin can do it, but he’s coming off the bench.

So Booker has to shoulder the responsibility of not only scoring, but setting up his teammates.

He’s done both to further dispel the idea the Suns don’t have someone who can run the show.

On a night he missed six in a row, Booker still kept playmaking in establishing a career-high in assists – and only turned the ball over once in 32 minutes.

His turnovers this season have gone from six in the opener at Golden State, to five versus San Antonio after missing three games with a left ankle sprain, to two Wednesday against Minnesota following a five-game absence with a right calf strain to one Friday at Utah.

Booker is going to have multiple turnover games just because it’s not easy to find the balance between scoring and facilitating. A player can get caught up in that duality and make mistakes partly due to fatigue and still trying to make a play.

However, Booker continues to show he can get others involved, not have to take a ton of shots to score and overcome frustrations with the referees to play the type of game Phoenix needed to win.

He could’ve tried to take Markkanen off the dribble on that possession Durant hit that dagger 3.

Booker said Durant was encouraging him to go at the much taller Jazz All-Star on the switch as Markkanen was initially guarding Durant. Plus, Markkanen denied Booker’s dunk attempt in the first quarter. Booker didn’t make another shot from the field until the second half.

Perfect opportunity for payback, but Booker knows he has a killer closer on his team – who had a mismatch. He got the ball to Durant, watched what he calls his “favorite shot” from him cash, gave a follow-up high five and ended the game victorious.

That decision speaks volumes about how Booker has grown as a decision maker.

One last thing

Vogel talked about how everyone needs to be ready on this team. That certainly was the case Friday night.

Nassir Little hadn’t played decent minutes since Oct. 31 against San Antonio and didn’t see any action against Detroit and Chicago on the three-game road trip.

He mopped up four minutes Wednesday, but got a longer, more meaningful run Friday. He hit two big shots – a 3 to pull the Suns within one late in the third and a layup off the bounce to give Phoenix an eight-point advantage early in the fourth.

He added a rebound, an assist and proved to be a spark off the bench.

Drew Eubanks continues to deliver as he poured out a third straight double-digit effort of 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

He splashed a huge 3 off a Booker assist, making him 2-of-2 on the season from range, and put Phoenix up one late in the third.

Think he hit himself on the side of the head a little too hard in celebration. Nearly knocked himself off balance.

Eubanks was later in the lineup with Grayson Allen, Gordon, Booker and Durant when Durant nailed that late 3.

Then Vogel subbed in Keita Bates-Diop for Eubanks on the biggest defensive possession for the Suns and watched him block Markkanen’s shot with 14.4 seconds left.

Vogel has been criticized for his rotations early in this season, but he made the right call to stay with Eubanks late even though Nurkic scored 15 points, and go with Bates-Diop on that late defensive possession.

Players can make coaches look good when they deliver or bad when they don’t.

Remember that.

Have opinions about 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.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant, Devin Booker at it again in leading Phoenix Suns past Utah Jazz