Phoenix Suns conclude four-game trip facing Milwaukee Bucks in 'playoff-type' matchup

MILWAUKEE — Devin Booker is a little foggy about the Suns' last matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks last month in Phoenix.

“I don’t even remember the game,” he said.

That’d seem like a hard one to forget.

Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Booker combined for 85 points in the 114-106 victory over the short-handed Bucks, who started the game without Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez and lost Khris Middleton to an ankle injury in the first quarter.

The win was part of a positive nine-game stretch for the Suns in which they went 7-2 going into the All-Star break. They’ve been a .500 team since and are seventh in the West going into a Sunday afternoon rematch at Fiserv Forum.

“We're progressing the way we need to,” Beal said when asked about their current status. “It's probably not as fast as everybody would have liked for it to be, but we're definitely making it work and we're figuring it out on the fly, especially this late in the year. It’s tough because we’ve got to lock in into that playoff mode and mentality. Nonetheless, however the flow may be going, we’ve got to make it work."

Sixth in the West and facing the second-toughest remaining NBA schedule, Phoenix (39-28) has 15 games left in its regular season to determine whether it will start the postseason in the play-in or not.

Suns' takeaways: More 3s, Eric Gordon shines in return during bounce back win in Charlotte

“You want to win every game you can, especially with the way the seedings are set up and us being in play-in territory,” Booker said. “We want to avoid that.”

Nine of Phoenix’s last 15 games are on the road where they are 18-14 this season. If the playoffs started today, the Suns would avoid the play-in and open the postseason at Minnesota.

“We don’t pay any mind to that or dig too deep into that,” Beal continued. “We go out and hoop and let the ball bounce how it bounces.”

The Suns are coming off a 107-96 victory Friday at Charlotte in the second of a road back-to-back after losing Thursday night at NBA-leader Boston.

All five Phoenix starters reached double figures Friday. Booker posted a team-high 21 points and 11 assists.

“I keep saying back-to-backs are a mindset,” said Suns backup big Drew Eubanks as the Suns are 7-4 in the second of back-to-backs this season. “We just had a tough loss, played a good team and we come here and, no disrespect to Charlotte, but it’s just one of those games we expect to win.”

The Suns led by as many as 25 points Friday going into the fourth. Charlotte (17-50) pulled within 10 midway through the quarter, but Phoenix managed to pull out the win.

“It was nasty, but a win is a win,” Beal said. “We've got to be a lot better. We can't just flip the light switch on. I think we had that mentality tonight. Granted it's a back-to-back. We've got to buckle down."

The Bucks (43-24) haven’t played since Thursday’s 114-105 win over the 76ers. So they’ll have two days between games while the Suns will have a day to regroup from a back-to-back to conclude a four-game road trip in an afternoon game in a different time zone.

Suns coach Frank Vogel described this situation as a “scheduling challenge,” but referenced back to a similar situation coming out of the All-Star break. Phoenix lost back-to-back road games against the Mavericks and Rockets before returning home to face the Lakers in an early game with one day in between.

The Suns won, 123-113, as all five starters reached double figures again, with Grayson Allen scoring a team-high 24 points, hitting 6-of-12 from 3.

“We played a great basketball game,” Vogel said. “We’ve got to draw on that experience and come in and play a great game against Milwaukee.”

In a season the Suns have had 22 different starting lineups, the unit of Booker, Durant, Beal, Nurkic and Allen have the most starts at 23. Phoenix is 15-8 with that lineup.

“We still have some things to work on, but I know we have the talent, the IQ,” Booker said. “We have the fight in here to do it. Figure a couple of things out.”

What are those couple of things? “Figuring them out, changes day to day,” Booker said, smiling. “Fix one thing, we’ve got to work on another.”

What are the latest things? “Transition defense is a big one,” Booker said. The Celtics blitzed the Suns with 24 fast break points Thursday night. The Suns are 20^th in transition points allowed. “And defensive rebounding. Giving up too many offensive boards.”

Phoenix is 28^th in offensive rebounds surrendered.

The Bucks are 22^nd in fast break points and 28^th in offensive rebounds. Based on numbers, the Suns should hold their own in both areas Sunday, but they still must deal with Milwaukee’s All-Star duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who leads the league in individual fast break points at 5.4, and Damian Lillard.

Antetokounmpo is an MVP candidate averaging 30.1 points to rank third in the NBA in scoring on a career-best 61.1% shooting and 11.2 rebounds. Lillard is averaging 24.3 points and 6.9 assists in his first season with the Bucks after a three-team trade before training camp brought him from Portland to Milwaukee.

A two-time NBA MVP, Antetokounmpo is listed as questionable with a left hamstring injury while Malik Beasley is also questionable with back spasms.

“It’s another challenge we’re looking forward to,” said Durant, who is fourth in the NBA in scoring at a team-best 28.1 points a game on 52.6% shooting, 6.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists.

“We’ve been playing tough teams the last couple of weeks. Excited to get this one going.”

This will also be the first time Suns big Jusuf Nurkic has faced Lillard, his friend and former Blazers teammate. Lillard didn’t play in the first matchup in Phoenix due to a left ankle sprain.

“Can’t wait, man,” said a smiling Nurkic, who played with Lillard in Portland for seven seasons. The 7-footer was also part of the same three-team trade with Lillard before camp that sent Deandre Ayton to the Blazers.

“First of all, I’m going to show up at his house. I don’t know how to approach this. I’m just excited. He’s a brother to me. Can’t wait to compete against him. It’s one of those games we need, but also a playoff-type of game.”

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.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns face Milwaukee Bucks in 'playoff-type' matchup Sunday