Phoenix Suns survive turnover, poor finish to beat six-win Wizards

On By Littum

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WASHINGTON DC – The Phoenix Suns found a way to turn what should have been a blowout win against the NBA’s worst team into a last-minute 130-123 victory Thursday in front of a crowd of 15,792 at Capital One Arena.

Up by as many as 24 points in the second half, the Suns found themselves in a one-possession game with under a minute left before closing the game on a 10-6 run.

Devin Booker’s 3 answered Kyshawn George’s 3 to give the Suns a six-point lead with 45 seconds left.

Booker led the Suns (20-20) with 37 points, Kevin Durant added 23 and Grayson Allen scored 21 as they were without Bradley Beal (sprained left ankle) and Jusuf Nurkic (illness).

Nurkic has yet to join the team on the five-game road trip, having missed Phoenix’s last three games with the flu. Beal sprained his left ankle in Tuesday’s loss at Atlanta.

Phoenix will look to get above .500 for the first time since beating Denver on Christmas when they play at the improving Detroit Pistons (21-19) on Saturday. Pistons beat Suns in Phoenix, 133-125, Dec. 21.

Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s win over the lowly Wizards (6-33), who have now lost their last eight games. Washington is 1-10 in its last 11 games.

Revenue, revenue, revenue

The Suns’ largest margin of victory came on November 26 in a 127–100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

They should have topped it Thursday against the Wizards.

Chicago just beat Washington by 33 points on Friday at home.

Last month, Dallas outshot the Wizards by 36 and Memphis took care of them by 28 in Washington.

Why couldn’t the Sun do the same?

Let’s start with the turnover.

The Suns allowed 29 Washington points off 16 turnovers for the game.

It was turnovers by committee, starting with Booker committing four and four other players — Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones, Monte Morris and Durant committing two each.

That’s four guards, two of which are point guards and the team’s best player.

Sloppy, careless passing, and what’s wild about it, the Wizards deflected several that ended up bouncing to the Suns.

This began in earnest when the Suns went up by 20 points in the second quarter, only to allow Washington to cut it to nine due to Phoenix’s sloppy play. The Suns had four turnovers to fuel an 11-0 Washington run, but they closed the half with 14 and led by double digits the rest of the half.

They then went up 24 only to commit five turnovers in the fourth, leading to nine Washington points. Coupled with Phoenix shooting 31.9% from the field in the quarter and the Wizards going 5-of-11 from 3, the Suns faced a young team that believed they could complete the comeback that never should have been so close.

‘If the coach could have put me in the game a little earlier’

Durant felt the game would not have been as close if Mike Budenholzer had set him the game earlier in the fourth quarter.

Here’s the problem with it.

First, the Suns were up by 21 points when Durant started the fourth quarter on the bench against the Wizards.

No disrespect, but Washington has only won six games. They have a bright future, with rookie Alex Sarr among the reasons, but the Wizards are in the early stages of rebuilding.

The Suns shouldn’t need Durant to play a second in the fourth quarter when they’re up 21 against a six-win team. He wants to play every minute, but he is 36 years old. Watching the fourth quarter from the bench wouldn’t hurt.

Then again, Phoenix has fallen on the road to now 10-win New Orleans and now 9-win Charlotte.

Perhaps Durant needed to come back earlier than the 3:18 mark when the Wizards were down by just 10 points, 120-110.

A win is a win. The Suns will take them as they can, but every team that plays them from this point forward will think they have a chance to come back from a big deficit and beat them – until the Suns start finishing games stronger.

Dunn and Allen deliver

Booker’s late 3-pointer was the biggest shot of the night. Averaging 32.5 points in his last six games, Booker has scored at least 30 in five of those games.

He’s back in full-scoring mode, even with the extra duties on the ball.

Durant put on a show for the hometown crowd. Tyus Jones nearly posted a double-double of nine points and 10 assists, but Grayson Allen and Ryan Dunn were huge x-factors for the Suns.

Allen continues to cook from 3 in going 5-of-7 in scoring 21 points. Returning from concussion protocol and a sore shoulder, Allen is 27 of 47 from 3 in his last eight games.

That’s better than the 46.1% he shot to lead the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage last season.

He is back from 3.

Then there’s Dunn, who posted a career-high 18 points and 11 rebounds in posting his first career double-double.

His confidence is growing in terms of putting the ball on the floor and going to the rim. Hit Corey Kispert with the little crossover from right to left and exploded to the rim for two.

The points became necessary with how the game ended, but his double-digit rebounds came after grabbing just one in Tuesday’s loss to Atlanta.

Had a chat with Budenholzer. Got the message, but it’s also a player who knows he’s better than that and then comes out and has a career-high on the glass.

That’s the type of reaction any team wants, especially from a rookie.

Do you have opinions about the current state of the sun? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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