PHOENIX — For a game full of complexity and nuance, NBA basketball doesn’t have to be complicated, even in the most difficult moments.

The Phoenix Suns did two incredibly simple things on the same, repeated play in crunch time to get Kevin Durant the ball in a 115-112 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday. And that was all they had to do.

“Sometimes you just have to get out of the way of the players,” Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “Try to let them get the best out of themselves.”

Great NBA teams are never afraid to spam a play call that works, and with the switches the Heat gave up, the Suns had Bradley Beal set a screen on Tyus Jones to get Tyler Herro to defend the ball. From there, Durant put one up on Herro to either make Herro defend him or force his defenseman Haywood Highsmith to rejoin him.

Durant hit his patented one-leg fadeaway over Herro to put the Suns up five with 2:53 to go. He then missed a deep 3 before Durant found space on the elbow toward the baseline through a reset on that same play. That immediately followed Highsmith coming over to take Herro off Durant, which along with the pass caused Durant to get into a slower rhythm. Thanks to Devin Booker for the feed so Durant could get in his shot while Highsmith contained the other end during his recovery.

“He’s an all-world passer who can make these reads at any time,” Durant said of Booker’s feed. “Unselfish, at the end of the game, wanting to get me the ball.”

Miami was ready allowing Herro to be put in that position, so on the next attempt Highsmith had to contain Jones’ lane before returning to Durant. That was too much space to cover and Durant fouled Highsmith’s closeout for free throws.

With less than 35 seconds left and the Suns up two, they headed back to the pit for the final time. Highsmith did a much better job this time of linking back to Durant. But Durant caught the ball at the top of the key, repositioned himself slightly in the triple threat and just rose over him in the most Kevin Durant shot you’ll ever see. Money.

A look at all three buckets:

SLIM REAPER CLOSE THE DOOR.

Bucket after bucket after bucket for KD too late to secure 6 straight wins for the @Suns! pic.twitter.com/pE9SsrykWZ

— NBA (@NBA) November 7, 2024

Free throw and foul hi-jinx closed it out from there. Miami even had a chance to tie the score at three when Booker’s attempted foul wasn’t called. But the Heat’s pass-off put Jimmy Butler inside the three-point line with three seconds left because of a leaping Royce O’Neale. By the time Butler stepped back to the line, O’Neale came flying in within seconds for a second big rush to force a play-ending pass.

pic.twitter.com/kpZmGBs3tg

— Oh yes, I did (@OhYesIdid24) November 7, 2024

Durant is now shooting 10-for-15 in clutch time this season, meaning the final five minutes when it’s a game of five points or less. Phoenix is ​​6-0 in these games and is the only NBA team with at least five such wins.

“I think these moments are good, we’ve had a lot of close, exciting games,” Durant said. “I’m sure the Suns fans are on edge every game, but I think it’s good for our team that we can play these games in the fourth quarter and get an understanding of what it’s like in crunch time. It’s a good win for us.”

The Suns were 20-21 in clutch games last season, and the late execution is a dramatic turnaround from the fourth-quarter night terrors a year earlier.

“I don’t want to compare it to last year,” Booker said. “I feel like we’re organized, we’re finding what works and Kevin Durant is a (expletive) to deal with.”

Durant scored 23 of his 32 points in the second half with eight rebounds, three assists and six turnovers. Two of those turnovers came in the middle of the third quarter, when the game was really getting away from Phoenix. It trailed by 15 and was starting to get lethargic defensively before a 15-3 surge in the final 2:54 of the period brought the Suns within three.

“That was huge,” Durant said of the end of the third quarter. “I think this was the match. … We cut that lead pretty quickly.” The turnover kept them in the game. They had a 20 point discount on our sales. That’s the statistic that struck me. … For the most part, I think we did a good job defensively.”

They would then take a four-point lead via a Durant 3 at 7:04 and remain in control from there.

This follows what has essentially become the script of a 2024-25 Suns game: play somewhere between below-average and above-average basketball for most of the game, show some elite spurt somewhere in there, and then win the game in crunch time .

Jusuf Nurkic played his best game of the season with 20 points and 18 rebounds. He played a role in a horrendous 5-of-21 shooting night for Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo.

Booker added 22 points and nine assists, and while Beal’s box score wasn’t pretty, this was another fantastic defensive game for him. He finished with seven points, two rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

Rookie Ryan Dunn knocked down his first two 3-point attempts, a good sign that his confidence hasn’t waned after failing to convert on his last nine shots from deep. However, Dunn sprained his left ankle in the second half. He will be evaluated on Thursday.

Herro was nearly the star of the show with 28 points and was the standout performer before Durant’s final act.

This marks the fourth time in franchise history that the Suns have started a season 7-1. Looking back on the memories of this franchise is always fun because of how many sneaky good iterations the Suns have had.

The 1980-81 campaign took place in the middle of John MacLeod’s highly successful tenure on a team that featured three All-Stars: Walter Davis, Dennis Johnson and Truck Robinson. The 2000-2001 Suns only had four games in January with Penny Hardaway, but were still great thanks to Jason Kidd in his prime, an emerging Shawn Marion and the always underrated Clifford Robinson. Finally, the 2009-2010 Western Conference finalists were the last hurray for the Seven Seconds or Less Steve Nash era.

The 1980 Pack got off to the best Suns start ever, 11-1, and went 23-4. All three of these teams won at least 50 games.

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