PHOENIX — Least you forget, the potential is there.
The Phoenix Suns showed what they’re still capable of on Friday in a thorough 123-112 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers.
Kevin Durant was out of this world, having one of those performances that reaches indisputable heights, when no one looks better. He finished with 42 points (17-of-29), six rebounds, eight assists and three turnovers in 39 minutes.
“Masterclass,” Devin Booker said of Durant’s night.
Phoenix bested Cleveland in the little areas, winning the majority of the 50-50 balls and showing full desire off the ball defensively on a night when it absolutely needed it to have any chance.
This was the most depleted we’ve seen the Suns in a few weeks. They were missing four rotation players in Grayson Allen (left foot strain), Bradley Beal (left hamstring strain), Mason Plumlee (left quad strain) and Nick Richards (right calf tightness). Richards was a late scratch, leaving Phoenix with only rookie Oso Ighodaro to match up with perhaps the best frontcourt in the NBA.
Cleveland is thought of as this giant team because of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley but doesn’t really play another big consistently. And the wing rotation lacks oomph in the athleticism/size department outside of De’Andre Hunter.
The Cavaliers are middle of the pack when it comes to offensive rebounding, so while the game did come down to limiting Allen and Mobley’s size, this would be more about if Phoenix’s recent uptick as a switching defensive squad was ready for the big time against the league’s top offense.
It was.
The Suns showed enough grit through this challenge with an eight-man rotation that included Ighodaro playing a preposterous 44 minutes.
“I just like his whole demeanor about the game,” Durant said of Ighodaro. “He’s in the right position, he’s talking, he’s battling, he’s going up there contesting shots at the rim — he’s just playing his hardest man, and you can live with mistakes when guys play incredibly hard.”
Phoenix began the game 11-of-21 from 3, getting major shooting contributions from the supporting cast to go up nine early in the second quarter. Durant began the game attacking Cleveland’s own switching, a mojo that established the offensive rhythm the Suns would have the rest of the way.
“I liked that I was precise and straight to my movements and (not) wasting too much time,” Durant said of his immediate flow.
The Cavaliers then began running zone and drop coverage, which hardly affected the quality of looks Phoenix was generating. A 27-17 Suns second quarter was ultimately the difference in this one. It was only the 10th time this season Cleveland was held under 20 points in a quarter.
Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson clearly detested the energy from his group as he began giving more run in the third quarter to energy wings like Javonte Green and Isaac Okoro. That got Cleveland’s effort back in a good spot but the Suns were up for the task when it came to matching it. They extended their lead to 21 in the late third quarter and that was enough of a cushion for things to not get dramatic, surprisingly so.
“It was big time. We knew they were,” Booker said of the push from Cleveland. “That team’s no slouch, they’re at the top of the league for a reason.”
Whenever the Cavaliers mustered a few successful possessions in a row, Phoenix countered with a bucket in order to prevent any major surge from Cleveland. Phoenix inevitably got stagnant late and started turning it over, giving up a 9-0 run that felt like it was coming, to let Cleveland get within seven at two minutes remaining.
Booker then hit a difficult midrange jumper, and after Cleveland missed an open 3, Booker dished out an incredible mid-air assist from one wing to the other to find Durant for the dagger 3.
Ighodaro, Ryan Dunn and Collin Gillespie have shown an undeniable ability to not only bring the energy the Suns were direly missing all year but doing so in a way that makes their teammates match them.
“When we’re all mixing up, we switching well, we boxing out well — we all do the little things and that make offense easier for us as well,” Durant said.
The Suns ended up 19-of-42 from 3, including five makes for Royce O’Neale, four for Tyus Jones and three for Gillespie. In the last 14 games, O’Neale is shooting 48.6% from deep and Jones is even higher at 52.7%.
Booker did not have a good shooting game but provided 10 assists with just one turnover to go with 17 points (7-for-17).
Phoenix limited Cavaliers All-Star Donovan Mitchell to a putrid 2-for-18 shooting and seven points. Mitchell and his team got a ton of great opportunities from 3 in the second half, specifically in the third quarter when the Cavaliers could have cut into the deficit before desperation time. They were 9-for-26 (34.6%) in the last two quarters and 17-for-45 (37.8%) in the game.
Despite the magnitude of the victory and how the battle for the No. 10 seed looks destined to be about who can just suck less, the Suns won on a night that the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trail Blazers both did against better opponents, too. Dallas beat Detroit at home while it was a home victory as well for Portland against Denver.
Phoenix is now tied at 34-37 with Dallas while Portland is 32-39. The Suns own the tiebreaker over the Mavericks, as well as the three-way tiebreaker. Portland’s would come down to conference record. Phoenix is 21-25 with six games to go against the West while Portland has five remaining at 17-30. Those numbers heavily favor the Suns.
But with Anthony Davis potentially coming back for Dallas and Portland on a four-game winning streak, Phoenix will require more victories like this one to be in the postseason.
“Every game is gonna be a battle at this point,” Booker said. “We see the remaining schedule, we know what we’re up against and we’re gonna have to sustain what we’re doing now. There’s gonna be rough parts (but) still gonna have to stick together and keep do what we’re doing.”