Cold sweats in Footprint Center. Grayson Allen has just missed his first free throw two seconds from the end, while his team is only two points ahead. The Sun shooter looks at the display board and decides to voluntarily miss the second. Norman Powell will inherit a last prayer in the buzzer from his camp. Missed.
And that's how the Suns won. While they were still counting 11 points ahead of the end (107-96), the locals played to be afraid by undergoing a 10-0 from James Harden, Norman Powell and their band. But, a sign of a better team in their basketball, and accustomed at the start of the season to win in the tense “money”, the Suns held.
Bradley Beal does not crack
Author of a globally complicated match, with its risky transmissions and initiatives, Bradley Beal did not tremble on the free throw line in the final. Before that, Kevin Durant had made his usual class speak in one-of-one to offer Phoenix a comfortable mattress. Before even flying off in this fourth quarter, the locals completed the first period with 13 points ahead (60-47).
Led by an even more leg Kawhi Leonard, an Ivica Zubac still unleashed in the racket and a duo James Harden-Norman Powell still at the rendezvous, visitors were ironed in front of the period (66-67). On a dunk by Kawhi Leonard precisely, after an authoritarian counter by Derrick Jones on “KD”.
Only, while the premises will not rely hardly in their domestic sector, visitors will have throughout the evening to contain the rear opposite, authors of a large evening behind the arc. And the Suns ended up winning.
What to remember
– Army of shooters in front by inner force. James Harden had set the tone by finding Ivica Zubac from the first possession of the match on the “pick-and-roll” with a magnificent pass in the back opening an easy pivot dunk. This will be the theme of the evening for visitors who scored 60 points in the opposing racket. The Suns were much less prolific in the matter (24), but compensated by a large 3-point address: 22/47! With five players with three awarded or more baskets (Booker, Jones, Durant, Allen and O'Neale), the Suns equaled their season record behind the arc (22).
– The Suns… the most fit in the west! By winning a 3rd time, the SUNS consolidate their balance sheet in the positive (24V-21D) after falling at three games under 50% in early January. Since then, the adjustments within the workforce – Bradley Beal 6th Man, Jusuf Nurkic “Benché”, arrival of Nick Richards – seem to pay. Also well helped by a more lenient calendar (Hornets, Jazz, Nets, two victories against Wizards …), Arizona players have won eight of their last ten outings. Only the Rockets do as well in the west on their last ten games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Spw4czcfn0
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How to read the stats? Min = minutes; Shots = successful shots / tempted shots; 3pts = 3-point / 3-point attempted; LF = Successful free throws / tempted free throws; O = offensive rebound; D = defensive rebound; T = total rebounds; PD = assists; FTE: Personal faults; Int = interceptions; BP = lost bullets; CT: against; +/- = Differential points when the player is on the field; Pts = points; EVAL: evaluation of the player calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
