If the Suns’ first visit to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City already resulted in a game not suitable for the faint of heart, their return just two nights later has gone even further. But the result and the main protagonist have been the same. Although this time with two overtimes and therefore with 10 more minutes of suffering, the Arizona team has once again taken the victory, once again led by a sensational Kevin Durant without whom the 137-140 that reflected the final score cannot be understood. .
The forward finished with 39 points and 10 assists that made him the great offensive reference for the visitors, and his skills as a scorer and play maker They saved Phoenix when it was on the ropes in the fourth quarter. The Jazz had taken a slight lead (103-95) with less than six minutes left, at which point KD scored or assisted 16 of his team’s last 20 points in regulation time, including the shot that made it 113-115 in the last minute. Kevin even blocked the shot with which Jordan Clarkson tried to return the tie to the scoreboard, but the ball ended up in the hands of Lauri Markkanen, the best local player with 38 points, who did manage to take it to the hoop to rebalance things before they finished the 48 minutes of play.
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Durant chose to give the last shot to Booker, who could not avoid the dispute with him in the first overtime. And in it, against all odds, it was Eric Gordon who took a step forward as the visiting hero, adding 9 of his team’s 12 points thanks to his ability to finish plays both from the triple and by cutting without the ball to the basket. His emergence gave air to Vogel’s team, who thanks to his actions were ahead from the start of extra time until the horn sounded. But it was not enough.
Because, with only two points of difference, Utah had time to look for the tie with a last attack by Keyonte George towards the rim, and although the rookie He couldn’t finish his shot correctly, the rebound fell into the hands of Collin Sexton when there were still a few tenths left to go. And his slap, which bounced off the board while the timer fell to 0 and left the entire pavilion with their breath frozen for a few moments, was worth it to make it 127-127.
However, Sexton’s heroics only postponed the home defeat for a few minutes. In the second overtime Durant took control again with 8 points, the Jazz again never went ahead and KD once again blocked the shot that could have tied the tie (or so the referees considered), this time coming from Lauri Markkanen and with no option for an offensive rebound to give Utah another chance. Hardy’s team suffered another tight setback against what promises to be one of the great teams in the conference, putting an end to this mini series of two exciting games.
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(Cover photo: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
2023-11-20 06:37:35
#Suns #win #Utah #agonizing #overtimes
