Phoenix Suns preseason opener felt like 'a playoff game' for new guard Bradley Beal

New Phoenix Suns star guard Bradley Beal was too busy scoring and watching his teammates get buckets to fully realize just how dynamic they started their preseason opener Sunday at Detroit.

“I didn’t really pay attention to it until we came out in the second quarter and we were shooting like 85 percent from the field or whatever,” Beal said. “I was like, I hadn’t seen that probably ever.”

The Suns blared 46 points in the first quarter in a 130-126 overtime win over the Pistons as Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Beal scored a combined 26 points in that explosive first quarter.

“Just taking what the defense gives us,” Booker said. “You have so many gifted players that can do so many different things. It’s not one-dimensional. We take the best available shot every time.”

The Suns will look to build off that win in which 16 players saw action in Tuesday’s second preseason game against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets at Footprint Center. Phoenix will be without Damion Lee (knee), Jordan Goodwin (hamstring) and Ish Wainright (calf).

“We’re still scratching the surface of what we can actually do and accomplish,” Beal said. “We’re still getting acclimated with each other, still getting acclimated with where guys like the ball, they’re strengths and weaknesses are. We’re still improving our team defense, which is a main priority.”

The Nuggets eliminated the Suns in the Western Conference semifinals last season in six games. The Suns responded with a coaching change and transformation of the roster through trades and free agency.

After four days of training camp charged with high energy and intensity, the Suns came out Johnny blazing to open the preseason against a rebuilding Pistons team under their former head coach, Monty Williams.

“It’s just a peek of what we can be offensively,” new Suns head coach Frank Vogel said. “Obviously, it looks great on paper with the firepower that we have. Those guys all were really clicking and comfortable in the system that we have them in.”

The Suns shot 17-of-20 from the field in the first quarter, going 4-of-5 from 3 and 8-of-10 from the line in taking a 46-29 lead.

“As impressive as the offense was, I was more impressed with our attention to detail defensively,” Vogel continued. “Because we were guarding, we were able to get into a good offensive rhythm. When we get in an offensive rhythm, like we were in the first quarter, we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Very hard to beat.

“As you can see, the potential is there,” Suns guard Eric Gordon said. “We have to continue playing like that and you can only imagine if we do that four quarters how lethal we can be.”

Phoenix led by as many as 23 points in the first half as the starting five of Booker, Beal, Durant, Jusuf Nurkic, Josh Okogie, along with the reserve Gordon, only played in the first half.

“I think the fact that we push each other in practice helps us and propels us to who we are and got us off to a good start,” Beal said. “Every day we have that mentality that we’re going to put our hard hat on and get better. As long as we have that approach, I think we’ll continue to get better and see the progress throughout the year.”

The Suns led 70-59 at the break as they shot 57.1% from the field in the first half. They hit 43.6% of their 3s and went 16-of-19 from the line.

The Suns probably would have reached the 80-point mark after two quarters had they not committed 11 turnovers that led to 14 Detroit points in the first half.

Durant and Booker each had 12 points at the break while Beal scored 11.

“The willingness and attitude to continue to play at a high level together and play off one another,” said Gordon, who scored eight points in the first half, about Booker, Beal and Durant. “Just the willingness to push the egos aside to have a winning mentality. You can see that and it’s very helpful.”

The Suns had seven players reach double figures with newcomer Grayson Allen scoring a team-high 18 points in 20 minutes.

“Everybody brings something to the table,” Beal said. “It’s just good that we are able to just flow naturally off one another. It’s just good basketball.”

Booker, Durant and Beal have only played one half together, but looked ahead of schedule in terms of chemistry and adjusting to where each one was on the court.

“We’ve had training camp,” Booker said. “We got the chance to get after it a little bit. That’s going to be our thing. We naturally move towards the ball, but I think when each of us have it, the other guys can get the spacing. You know what we can do in space.”

Durant noted they started their careers playing off the ball before becoming “on-ball” players.

“We’re always going to revert back to what we learned as amateurs and as young players in this league,” he said.

Booker, Durant and Beal played unselfishly, but took the shot when it was there for them.

“The game is easier when you don’t have to dribble so much,” Durant said. “When you’re not the only one expected to score late in possessions, it makes you want to do other things on the court besides scoring. Defend, get rebounds, be in the right spot on defense. Put your body on the line a little bit more.”

Beal’s debut with Phoenix after 11 seasons in Washington was much anticipated as the Suns traded Chris Paul to acquire the three-time All-Star.

He was more than ready to go.

“I felt great, honestly,” Beal said. “I felt very excited. Very locked in. It was like I was playing in a playoff game. I was super excited, man. I wasn’t nervous. Felt like I belonged. This is probably just camp and being so acclimated with these guys. Just felt natural to be on the floor.”

The Suns are all for Beal being himself.

“You always want Brad to be aggressive no matter who is guarding him, no matter what time of the game it is, he has to stay engaged if we want to be the team we want to be, especially on offense,” Durant said.

“He’s got to get those shots up. We’ll figure it out. I think Coach (Vogel) will do a good job with the rotations to figure out, alright now, we need Brad out there to lead the second unit."

Beal closed the first as the only starter as he came into the game for Booker with 2:29 left in the quarter. Yuta Watanabe, Drew Eubanks, Gordon and Allen finished the quarter with Beal.

“That type of stuff is the fun part of the game that Coach (Vogel) will figure it out with his staff, but we need (Beal) to be aggressive no matter who is on the floor,” Durant added.

The Suns opened the second quarter with big Drew Eubanks, Booker, Beal, Allen and Durant.

“We’re all going to figure it out,” Gordon said. “We know we have a good team so things will happen easily and quickly. We know we have a good team, so we’ll easily figure things out along the way.”

Allen’s debut came on his 28^th birthday. He signed autographs pregame, shot 7-of-11 from the field (3-of-6 from 3) and ended the night doing the postgame interview for Arizona’s Family broadcast.

“I’ve been really excited to get out there and play with everybody, get on the same team,” Allen said. “Being on the court at the same time with those guys. It was a lot of fun getting in the action with those guys, pushing it on the break, ball just zipping around.”

Coming from Milwaukee in a three-team trade that sent Deandre Ayton to Portland and Damian Lillard to the Bucks a week before training camp, Allen had the team's highest plus/minus Sunday at plus-22.

“He’s a real crafty player that can score at all three levels,” Durant said. “He utilized that, used the screens well, getting to his spots. We’re going to need that from him moving forward.”

Nurkic didn’t have as glowing of a Suns debut as Beal, Allen or Gordon.

Coming from Portland in the three-team trade, Nurkic scored just five points, committed four fouls and had three turnovers in 15 minutes, but also led the starters in assists with three with one coming after he brought the ball up the court.

The 7-footer found Durant on a backdoor cut for a bucket to give Phoenix a 21-point lead in the second quarter. Nurkic scored five points on 2-of-4 shooting and grabbed five rebounds for the game.

“He’s going to be a big body for us, help with defensive rebounding,” Vogel said. “Obviously, the skill he has offensively — that back-cut to KD was really good. He's going to help us on both ends.”

Q&A: Bradley Beal gets right to the point when asked to describe Phoenix Suns' upcoming season

Have opinion 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: Phoenix Suns preseason opener like 'a playoff game' for Bradley Beal