The Phoenix Suns will fly to Memphis encouraged by the tremendous fight that had them in a great position to sweep a back-to-back against arguably the two best teams in the Western Conference. There was some spice in the finish, however, that will ruffle the feathers of those still in their feelings.
A Kevin Durant game-winner in a 100-97 final on Monday still has the Suns winless against the Houston Rockets (22-11) and the superstar they traded there six months ago.
The Suns were clearly running out of steam after flying to Houston the day of the game and beating Oklahoma City Thunder in Phoenix the day prior, seeing a 13-point lead in the early third quarter fizzle out to a five-point deficit when the Suns (21-15) scored just 11 points over 12:07 of game time.
But Phoenix kept scrapping like hell to not let the Rockets breeze by, and instead forcing them to earn it.
A Devin Booker 3-pointer on a back-tap got the Suns back within a point at a little over three minutes remaining. From there, both defenses ratcheted up their levels and produced a rock fight of a conclusion featuring terrible offensive execution.
RELATED STORIES
Mat Ishbia says Dillon Brooks is 'not going anywhere,' quashes trade rumors
Vinny's View: Suns earned grittiest win of season over Thunder
That led to Booker and the Suns getting the ball with the game tied at 29 seconds remaining. Given the awful rhythm and plodding pace, the expectation would be for Booker to move with more urgency to get the action in motion faster.
What he did instead was play Durant’s game.
Booker slowed it down, waved off screens designed to attack mismatches (on Durant) and played isolation basketball. Booker likely did so to drain the whole clock, but with the excellent Tari Eason guarding him, he couldn’t create any space and air-balled his shot attempt for a shot clock violation.
Houston did what you’d expect.
Durant simply got the ball 30 feet out near the right wing, with Royce O’Neale defending him and Booker shadowing over just a few feet away. O’Neale correctly shaded Durant towards the help to force Durant into a trap, but Booker was afraid to fully commit and leave Jabari Smith Jr. open in the right corner next to him.
The problem is Houston’s spacing was off, with Eason in that same corner, so Dillon Brooks would have been there to cover that pass. And there was, you know, the other problem of letting Durant get any type of look off in that situation period. We’ve seen that dude freaking move the ball in mid-air in the middle of his shooting motion to avoid a block and still make the game-winner.
Don’t let him decide the game, which he did.
Durant got off a look that isn’t great for most but might as well be a layup for him and that was the ballgame.
He celebrated by motioning for Phoenix to get out of his gym, a proper response in this writer’s opinion to an organization that tried to trade him behind his back and a fun barb with his former teammates and coaches that still have all the respect in the world for him.
KEVIN DURANT HITS THE CLUTCH 3 TO WIN IT FOR HOUSTON ? pic.twitter.com/1lC1qjT0Ok
— NBA (@NBA) January 6, 2026
The Suns easily could have won this game had they played a bit cleaner basketball, another note to applaud what they’ve established this season.
For the Rockets, the best rebounding team in basketball by far, Phoenix in the first two matchups this season actually won the offensive glass 28-18. And while Monday wasn’t as lopsided as it should be, 15-11 Rockets, the second-chance points were 21-5 Rockets.
This and the Suns’ inability to score on the Rockets continues to make this a nightmare matchup. Their point totals against them are now 92, 98 and 97 with assist totals of 11, 14 and 23. Ten of those on Monday came in the second quarter alone, meaning it was a combined 13 in the other three periods.
Like the last time these two teams faced off in Houston on Dec. 5, the Rockets’ lack of focus and high-end engagement was evident, a no-no against the Suns. At that time, it forced a rage timeout from head coach Ime Udoka midway through the game, and from there, his squad responded emphatically to dominate.
In the early third quarter on Monday, an open lob and inbounds pass steal leading to an open 3 for Phoenix to go up 11 that forced a similar timeout. Out of that intermission, the Rockets committed an eight-second violation, not quite indicative of a trend developing. It was just a delayed fuse, though, and that is once again the point when the Rockets found momentum.
It’s reasonable to attribute some of the Suns’ sloppy second-half play to not only a premium back-to-back in terms of opposition, but also the wonkiness inside Phoenix’s last 24 hours.
In the first quarter, there were a handful of stoppages because of an error with the clock. It’s not terribly uncommon to see one during a game but more than that is a rarity. It became increasingly clear that this was not user error and was instead a technological issue. When the second quarter started, the clock did not, leading to a stoppage to try to get the devices properly syncing up.
After that 12-minute stoppage, play resumed, but the clock did not. That’s when the officials had enough and called an audible.
The time and score would then be manually tracked, unavailable on a scoreboard. To make up for that, the public address announcer was reading off the score each time a point was logged, as well as the time left in the quarter. When a possession would get timely, he would count down the shot clock.
This apparently went as deep as the buzzer not connecting to the sound system, so an airhorn was used as a temporary replacement.
The second half resumed with everything functioning properly again, but on top of the Suns having to fly in the day of the game, it was another brief test of focus that they passed with flying colors.
Mark Williams played in his second straight back-to-back, the continuation of a great recent development. The marquee opponents, however, continue to give him problems, a not-so-great recent development. He was largely ineffective and has to be the guy leading the charge on the glass, especially while Houston was without Alperen Sengun (right ankle sprain).
Oso Ighodaro closed the game for the second straight night. Williams played 21 minutes and logged four points with eight rebounds.
Booker was Phoenix’s leading scorer with 27 points, and while Grayson Allen was rusty as a shooter in his return (0-for-6) after nine missed games, as his six assists and four steals were a welcome additional help in those areas.
Durant finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Follow @KellanOlson
Hence then, the article about kevin durant game winner fizzles out great suns effort vs rockets was published today ( ) and is available on Arizona sports ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Kevin Durant game-winner fizzles out great Suns effort vs. Rockets )
Also on site :
- Was Indian presenter Ridhima Pathak removed from Bangladesh Premier League after Mustafizur Rahman drama?
- SSC Napoli vs. Hellas Verona Prediction, Picks, Live Odds – January 7
- Domenicali sees ‘signs of optimism’ for German GP return