Kevin Durant became painfully honest on what caused the Suns to falter against the Pacers.
The Phoenix Suns entered their Friday night contest against the Indiana Pacers having won their past seven games. After a rough midseason stretch, Kevin Durant and company appear to have figured things out, with the Suns letting Devin Booker cook as the main option.
However, on Friday, the Suns ended up losing to the Pacers, 133-131, even though Booker had a worthy encore to his 46-point night against the Dallas Mavericks, dropping 62 in the loss.
For most of the game, it seemed as though the Suns were in control. However, come the fourth quarter, the Pacers ratcheted up the intensity on defense, doubling the pick-and-roll ballhandler, and forcing the Suns to rely heavily on the perimeter. This, in turn, doomed the Phoenix offense when their shooting ran cold.
Kevin Durant pointed out that this coverage from Indiana made them play passive (the Suns drew a grand total of zero team fouls from the Pacers in the fourth quarter), which led to their undoing in a heartbreaking two-point loss.
“We’ve got to be more aggressive and make them call the fouls. The turnovers, the offensive rebounds… so that’s a formula to lose right there. No matter how well you shoot.
If you got 20 less possessions and 20 offensive rebounds, and we turn over 19 times… we’ll never win a basketball game like that,” Durant said in his postgame presser, per Duane Rankin of AZ Central.
“We’ve got to be more aggressive and make them call the fouls.”“That’s a formula to lose right there.”
Kevin Durant on no foul calls in 4th, having 20 turnovers lead to 25 Indiana points, giving up 21 offensive rebounds to #Pacers, who took 20 more shots in 133-131 #Suns loss pic.twitter.com/RzA0qo1CRL
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) January 27, 2024
Indeed, the Pacers displayed more energy than the Suns, and it resulted in a frenetic fourth-quarter turnaround for Indiana that culminated in an Obi Toppin game-winning layup.
The final Pacers offensive possession summed up the Suns’ woes on the night. Indiana crushed them on the offensive glass, with Pascal Siakam and Toppin giving the team multiple chances at a go-ahead bucket.
Perhaps Kevin Durant and the Suns lost their aggression amid Devin Booker’s 62-point night, confident in Booker’s ability to take the team across the finish line in spite of their lackluster effort levels.
Nonetheless, this is a learning moment for a Suns team that will now take to heart the fact that they must nail the little things apart from shooting the basketball so they could reach the level they envisioned of themselves heading into the stretch run of the season.
