PHOENIX – After a brutal loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night, the Phoenix Suns got the chance to play them again on Friday. They would cruise to a 125-108 victory led by the playmaking of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Although the Pelicans team was severely shorthanded, playing without two of its top three scorers in Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum, this hasn’t stopped the Suns from losing similar games throughout the season. Coming into Friday night, Phoenix was 2-10 on the second night of a back-to-back.
For the second night in a row, Booker finished with nine assists while Durant added six of his own. The two stars seemingly made a concerted effort to get their teammates involved. Both players finished well below their season average in points while Bol Bol led the way with 25 points.
“The ball movement, the sharing, making passes, making shots. So it was a good response. Good coming out of the gate,” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game.
Four of Booker’s nine assists went to center Nick Richards. Richards finished the night with 19 points.
“I think it’s something we are going to just try to build on,” Richards said when asked about Booker throwing him lob passes. “He feels good throwing it; I’m looking for it every now and then. I think it’s just something we are just going to keep having to work on.”
It wasn’t just Booker and Durant sharing the ball as Budenholzer alluded to. Tyus Jones added six assists as well. The Suns on the season average over 26 assists per game and tonight they had nine more than that with 35.
BOL WITH THE OOP 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/JXBhz2y8zf
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 1, 2025
“How we moved the ball, able to pick apart their defense a little bit, understanding what they were trying to do on the defensive end,” Jones said postgame on what he liked in terms of how the Suns were able to respond after Thursday’s loss.
All the ball movement and playmaking wouldn’t have mattered though if the team wasn’t making shots. Royce O’Neale added 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting off the bench. Phoenix overall shot 59.5% from the field and 52.5% from three.
With the win, the Suns pull to within three games of the final play-in spot currently held by the Sacramento Kings. Will the playmaking and team basketball Phoenix showed against New Orleans translate to the rest of the season? The first chance to prove this wasn’t just a flash in the pan is Sunday night against a struggling Minnesota Timberwolves team that has lost two straight.
