Devin Booker’s first-quarter three-pointer had barely settled through the bucket when, from a few feet away, Kevin Durant let slip a loud roar. Hours before Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Durant delivered Booker a message. Don’t worry about getting me involved, Durant said. I’ll get myself involved. You be aggressive. Booker took his advice, scoring 16 points in the opening quarter.
Moments after Booker’s three, it was Bradley Beal’s turn. First, it was a 25-footer. Then a 23-footer from the corner. Along the Phoenix Suns sideline, Frank Vogel clapped furiously. For months Vogel has pleaded with his team to shoot more threes. Film sessions were dedicated to missed opportunities. “A reluctant three-point team with great shooters,” was how Vogel described his team. Too many times Vogel looked at a postgame stat sheet to see an opponent shoot 40-plus threes, with Phoenix in the 20s. On Thursday, the Suns jacked up 39 threes—making 14 of them—in a 127–109 win.
“One win doesn’t mean we’re there,” said Vogel. “But it was definitely a positive step in the right direction.”
This was how it was supposed to be, wasn’t it? The Suns overwhelming opponents on offense while playing just enough defense to finish the job. Beal, playing in his 13th game of the season, scored 37 points. Booker chipped in 31. Durant, on a quiet night for him, added 18. All three shot better than 50% from the field. Beal shot 80% … from three-point range.
“I know he’s capable of taking 10 threes in a game now,” said Vogel. “And I’m going to hold him to that.”
Why can’t this be the Suns? Not the 2–5 team that opened the season or started December losing nine of its first 11. Hell, earlier this week a full-strength Phoenix lost to the Ja Morant–less Memphis Grizzlies at home and were tattooed by the Los Angeles Clippers on the road. Statistically, the Suns’ offense is mediocre (13th in offensive efficiency, per NBA.com) and its defense (16th) is worse.
“The hardest part is being consistent,” Durant said. “We see [this] stuff on film and we want to try to emulate that as much as possible. It’s easier said than done.”
The Suns’ problems are not overly difficult to diagnose. Injuries have been an issue. Entering Thursday night’s game against the Lakers, the Durant-Booker-Beal trio had played just 127 minutes together, per NBA.com. The trio has an offensive rating of 123.6. That’s very good. The defensive rating is 108.2. That’s very, very good. It’s reasonable to assume the more time Phoenix’s Big Three gets together, the better it will be.
“Defensively when we talking to each other and understanding where we all need to be on the defensive side of the ball, then the offensive it becomes easier,” Durant said. “So I just feel like we got to be on the string more and have a little bit more togetherness on the defensive side of the ball, and that’ll feed into our offense.”
Shot selection, too. Durant, Beal and Booker are three of the NBA’s most prolific midrange jump shooters. NBA success, though, comes from beyond the three-point line, where the Suns (31.5 attempts per game) don’t generate many points.
“I think [threes] should be forced, especially early in games,” Booker said. “We have such good shooters on the team that I think even shooting a make or miss, it slowly just loosens up those midrange shots because people know there’s threats out there at deep spacing that will shoot it. It opens up the gaps for you. We have a lot of shooters just work the most points, and I think it’s a good shot for a lot of us.”
It’s been a strange first half of the season. The Minnesota Timberwolves are really good. The Golden State Warriors are really bad. If the season ended today, the Lakers would be in a statistical tie with the Utah Jazz for the final play-in spot. The Suns have had plenty of ups and downs. But they aren’t the only ones.
Thursday offered evidence that there was hope for Phoenix. That Booker can handle his role as a scorer and a playmaker. That Beal can rediscover some of his old Washington Wizards magic. That Durant, who helped hold LeBron James to 10 points, can take over down the stretch.
Coming into the season the Suns were a grand experiment, a nine-figure bet that a top-heavy roster could beat a more balanced one. There have been plenty of reasons to believe it will fail. Against the Lakers, we saw reasons why it won’t.
