PHOENIX – It was quite a sudden feedback on how much the Phoenix Suns would miss Kevin Durant (left calf strain), especially in crunch time, in a 127-118 overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Sacramento added DeMar DeRozan this offseason to team with De’Aaron Fox to form the NBA’s best one-two pairing of clutch scoring. DeRozan is widely considered one of the best closers of the past decade, while Fox won the clutch award two seasons ago.

Phoenix (8-2) entered Sunday at 7-0, thanks in large part to Durant, who was the favorite for that award just under three weeks into the season. Without him, the Suns showed plenty of fight but didn’t have enough late or on-ball defense to stop both players.

DeRozan was 9 of 10 from the field as the fourth quarter began. His only miss came with six seconds left, one on the midrange looks he had calmly knocked down all quarter. That rebound opportunity was tipped in by Sacramento’s Keegan Murray, allowing the Kings to take the lead.

Devin Booker fouled before the next inbound pass, giving him one free throw while maintaining possession, but he couldn’t follow that goal with one at the buzzer for the win.

In overtime, DeRozan scored the Kings’ next eight points over a span of 1:54, giving them six points. From then on, it was Fox’s turn, scoring on each of the next four possessions to ice the game. The two combined to score 15 of 18 in the final 17 minutes of the match.

Bradley Beal has seen DeRozan’s mastery up close over the years as he shared the Eastern Conference with DeRozan.

“Yeah, he goes up to the elbow, pumps you in the ass and shoots — you can’t help it,” Beal said.

DeRozan gets hot after the start of the game. 5-of-15 is the kind of scenario where you would normally see Durant play the matchup himself. He will even do that against smaller guards like Fox. Without him, Royce O’Neale tried to take on that task but struggled.

Rookie Ryan Dunn, who started in place of Durant, had some success defending DeRozan earlier in the game, but head coach Mike Budenholzer opted to go with the more reliable shooter and spacer on offense. Because of that strategic choice, Phoenix was defeated 16-7 in extra time.

“We weren’t physical enough with them, I think we let (DeRozan) run into the midrange a little bit — granted, he made a few right over them,” Beal said. “That’s what he does, he’s an elite shot maker.”

The Kings were more considerate of Booker while Durant was sidelined and continually sent extra help his way. Booker provided three seconds of ball movement all night with 12 assists and could have had almost 20 if the Suns had knocked down a few more. They were 18 out of 57 (31.6%) of 3.

“Yes, I think we shot over 50 3s and a lot of them looked good and we’ll make more,” Booker said.

The Suns, strictly speaking, don’t just take 3s at such high volume, so the number indicates a relatively solid process. They just have to earn more if they take that many.

Booker made three midrange jumpers in the first three minutes and the fourth-quarter change to put Phoenix up 11, but he saw even more extra defensive attention from there and didn’t have the gas tank to score over it. His illness, which was highlighted in Friday’s injury report, was clearly wearing him down and he felt it was fair to say so.

Beal went limp at one point in the fourth quarter with a kink in his ankle and played through it before DeRozan rolled on his left knee in overtime. He was in severe pain and tried in vain to run away before finally getting enough adrenaline to complete the game.

Beal said the pain in his knee was so intense that he couldn’t even remember which ankle he pinched, noting that the ankle was fine and that X-rays of his knee were negative. He thinks the knee will just be a pretty nasty bruise, but we’ll see what Monday’s injury report brings.

Booker was 9-for-22 for 23 points, while Beal added a team-high 28 on 9-for-18 shooting. Beal scored on back-to-back trips in clutch time, with the Suns tied 107-104 with 1:51 left, but they just couldn’t stop the Kings’ dynamic duo.

Sacramento has been a terrible 3-point shooting team this year, and that held up Sunday with a 6-for-28 (21.4%) shooting mark from players not named Kevin Huerter (5-for-9). DeRozan finished with 34 points and Fox’s number was 21. Fox was 4-for-16 at one point before finishing 6-for-7 the rest of the way. He is dealing with a left hand injury that he essentially admitted Friday that he is not willing to wait an extra month to allow to fully heal without interruption.

Jusuf Nurkic came into the match questionable due to a sore left ankle. He played it through in the first half before being sent off at half-time. Mason Plumlee and Oso Ighodaro dominated the central minutes in the second half. Phoenix is ​​also losing some quality small-ball 5 lineups without Durant.

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