After trailing by as many as 15 late in the third quarter, the Phoenix Suns had the ball and a two-point lead with 20 seconds left against the Heat on Wednesday. There was no doubt where they were going to close out yet another clutch victory.
Tyus Jones ran a simple two-man action to get Kevin Durant the ball at the top of the circle. He kept the ball high, sizing up Haywood Highsmith, who was nearly glued to his body. No matter. Durant, at nearly seven feet tall with a 7-foot-5 wingspan, doesn’t even feel a 6-foot-5 defender like Highsmith. He might as well be shooting by himself in some empty gym.
He offered a little jab step to clear a bare minimum of space, raised up, and knocked in a 22 footer to ice the Suns’ sixth straight victory by six points or fewer.
Last season, the Suns, almost incomprehensibly for a team graced with such elite shot-making talent, were the worst fourth-quarter team in basketball. Over the final 12 minutes, they were outscored, on average, by 2.4 points. That was double the second-worst mark. They were also outscored in clutch situations (any time a game is within five points with five or fewer minutes to play) by 5.5 points per 100 possessions.
This season that script has been completely flipped. The Suns, who have bumped that fourth-quarter net rating from the minus-5.5 it was last season to plus-3.5 this year, lead the league with six clutch victories. Over those final five minutes, Phoenix is outscoring opponents by (small-sample alert) 51.1 points per 100 possessions, the second-best mark in the league to Cleveland.
They’re not making it easy on themselves. When the Suns haven’t dug themselves into large deficits, they have blown their own big leads. Either way, it has led to photo finishes. On opening night, the Suns trailed the Clippers by nine with four minutes to play. Durant hit the game-tying 15-footer with 21 seconds to play and Phoenix prevailed in overtime.
Five days later, the Suns trailed the Lakers by as many as 18. After rallying back, Durant sealed the win with eight points over a two-minute stretch in the clutch. Three days after that, they got down 21 to the Clippers; this time it was Devin Booker with 13 fourth-quarter points in a six-point Suns win. Against the Blazers, they let a 26-point lead get chewed down to two with less than a minute to play. They escaped that one, too.
On Monday, the Suns trailed the 76ers by nine with five minutes to play. Durant scored 10 of the next 14 points, including this elbow fadeaway to put Phoenix up one with a minute to play.
And then the drive and finish to win the game with 24 seconds to play.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight, close games. I’m sure Suns fans on edge every game, but I think it’s good for our team that we can play these fourth quarter games and get an understanding for what it’s like in crunch time,” Durant said after the Miami win.
So far this season, Durant is tied with Nikola Jokic for the most clutch points with 29. He has done this by making 10 of his 11 2-point shots. Ten of 11! Even with four 3-point misses the man is shooting 66% in the clutch and 9 of 9 from the free-throw line. Small sample, certainly. But these are shots he makes in his sleep. Do not bet on that stopping any time soon.
The Suns are doing a lot of good things to put Durant in these positions. They’re defending at a top-10 level, which is fueling these comebacks. Both Durant and Booker have talked about their organization offensively; having the proper spacing and support screening to set up Durant in his preferred scoring spots.
It cannot be overstated how well Bradley Beal is playing as a purely additive and non-interruptive third option. Rookie Ryan Dunn has been a massive addition. Royce O’Neale is shooting 47% from 3. Grayson Allen is getting it going. Jusuf Nurkic is averaging a double-double and really defending. Jones has been so vital in the balance of it all. But in the end, Durant, as Booker said after the Miami win, is a mother—-er” to deal with.” By extension, so are the Suns.