PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns are 3-for-3 at halftime of a six-game homestand after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 109-88.
The injury list at the start illustrated a good portion of what this game was about.
Kevin Durant was sidelined by right hamstring soreness, which he corrected in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win and played through the rest of the game. Durant's total minutes played on alternate days over the last four contests were 43, 41, 39 and 39, suggesting this was a rest night on the second night of back-to-back games.
However, head coach Frank Vogel dismissed this idea before the game, saying the Suns did not give rest days and that this was an injury. Speaking of a day-to-day situation, Vogel expressed confidence that Durant would be available for Wednesday's home game against the Los Angeles Clippers as Phoenix's schedule moves into full swing in a challenging January.
The Blazers were without Deandre Ayton (right knee tendonitis), Toumani Camara (right knee soreness), Duop Reath (back strain), Anfernee Simons (illness) and Robert Williams III (torn right knee ligament). These are Portland's best guard (Simons), second best winger (Camara) and the three best centers.
Nevertheless, the Suns led 29:20 for one quarter after the Suns didn't come up short visually and looked a bit sloppy on defense. Bradley Beal and Devin Booker started slowly, questioning whether Durant's absence would be felt enough to hurt Phoenix's chances of beating a depleted, bad team.
But my goodness, the dynamic of the game changed thanks to a Beal-plus-reserve lineup that included Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Chimezie Metu and Bol Bol.
Yes. No typos there. It was a 35-18 second quarter to regain control of the game.
“I want to give credit to our bank. … Credit those guys for staying ready,” Vogel said of the win. “We've had a few games throughout this year where our bench was outplayed by the other team's bench. Our bench gets the game ball tonight.”
Bol, a player the crowd falls in love with every time he's in the game (and shouts “check in” during riots), has made a real impression! He was +15 with five points, four rebounds and one assist in eight first-half minutes.
https://t.co/MwMiFxDE6p pic.twitter.com/WYsbU9GDi6
– Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 2, 2024
“Felt pretty good,” Bol told Arizona Sports. “We had a lot of energy, the crowd was loud outside and most importantly: we won.”
The former projected lottery pick, entering his only season at Oregon, was a second-round pick four years ago and spent a year with the Suns to bring his immense skills to their own system and see if they could could find a deciding factor, something two previous teams failed to achieve.
The 7-foot-3, 220-pound player doesn't really have a position. Ideally it is big. But he also has ball-handling and self-development skills. He had a total of 19 minutes into the night and was able to more than double that on Monday. His only other rotation appearance showed much of the basketball IQ and emotional issues that have plagued him, a nod to his five fouls that night.
Vogel said Bol had a good couple of weeks in the post-practice run with the underpowered players, so Bol would get another chance since Durant was sidelined.
Bol will do a lot of things wrong on the floor. It's a thrilling, choose-your-own-adventure ride with him, ball-to-ball. He won't raise his hand while defending a 12-foot jumper with his 7-foot-8 wingspan, or will he will end up with a slap on the ball to commit the easiest foul ever. He is also gigantic, agile and highly skilled.
Vogel put it well before the game.
“If he plays with discipline, his talent can shine,” he said.
That's it. Bol is a high-energy player at this point in his young career, and if he can find a way to string together positive plays while avoiding mistakes at all costs, that will be good enough to carve out a home for himself in the NBA. Because his athleticism and talent will take it from there.
He finished the game with 11 points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes, playing within himself, which is difficult when the crowd is audibly captivated every time you get the ball. It wasn't a game-changing performance by any means that signaled his arrival in a permanent role, but it was good for the Suns to see him put some things together and earn another chance should an opportunity like Monday arise again.
“He played well,” Vogel said of Bol. “I was really happy to give him the opportunity and really happy that he took advantage of it and played a great game of basketball.”
The Suns didn't come out fast with an eight-point lead coming out of halftime, and were solid enough to capitalize on a terrible 12 minutes for Portland that allowed Phoenix to lead by 25 points in the fourth quarter. Phoenix outscored Portland 66-32 in the middle quarter. A 10-0 start by the Blazers in the fourth quarter briefly raised fears that Phoenix's problems would get worse during that period, before a 9-0 response by the Suns calmed things down.
Booker had his worst game of the year in terms of shooting, 4 of 16, kind of a good basketball game from him as he missed a lot of mid-range gimme attempts that he almost always converted. In the end he had 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two turnovers.
“Yeah. I just missed a few easy ones. … Nights like that happen,” Booker said. “If kids can learn anything from this situation, it's just keep shooting. It'll even go out again, I'll be a heater soon hire.”
Jusuf Nurkic finished a strong December averaging 15.2 points and 12.3 rebounds per game and maintained that form Monday with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal and two blocks.
Chimezie Metu started in place of Durant and was solid with 14 points, similar to Beal with 21 points and Grayson Allen with 12 points.
Nassir Little (left knee soreness) was available, leaving Durant and Damion Lee (torn meniscus) as the only Suns sidelines. Almost there.