PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns are 3-1 with a lot of room to improve after a 109-105 win Monday over the Los Angeles Lakers, and their ability to win through that with real determination speaks to the potential of this one group.

This one could have gone south quickly, as it did a lot last season.

“I’m sure everyone is watching the game and all they could think about was last season and how we fell behind early and had some slow starts,” Kevin Durant said. “I loved how we closed the lead quickly. … It showed our poise, it showed us staying together defensively.”

Los Angeles blew the Suns through the first seven minutes of the game in what felt like a basketball ambush. The Lakers clearly emphasized pace on make or miss before immediately attempting to attack the basket. The crazy thing is that Anthony Davis, looking like an MVP candidate again, settled for two jumpers early before turning into Godzilla in a span that put LA at 18th.

Durant responded by scoring a dozen in the quarter to cut the deficit to nine, then Bradley Beal kept that going, further cutting the Lakers’ lead before 14 second-quarter points from Devin Booker gave the Suns a halftime break. leading by two.

This has been another ride on the rollercoaster that is Jusuf Nurkic when he’s struggling, to the point where it seems like the ride will never end and the mistakes will only compound. Whether it was mishandling the ball, missing shots around the rim or getting called for offensive fouls, it was legitimately remarkable how many impactful negative plays he made in such a short period of time. Nurkic retired at -18 after his first shift, and while he certainly played poorly in that 6:44, it didn’t feel like he was the main culprit in it all.

But when Nurkic checked back in for the second quarter with 3:08 left, you could feel the momentum of the game changing again as he messed up. Longtime readers will remember that this is where we coined the term “Bender Groans,” a moment when former top-five Dragan Bender messed up and the crowd would react in an admittedly uncomfortable way. Deandre Ayton reached this status late in his tenure, and it took Bender a lot of growing pains to get there as well. Nurkic’s latest blunder, a post-up attempt where he lost control, inspired Suns fans to make a big splash.

“He understands what it is and you never want the weight when you’re playing bad,” Booker said of Nurkic. “He’s a competitor, so he’s going to come in and he’s going to play better and we’re going to get behind him.”

Nurkic did start the second half, but was eliminated after just over five minutes. He wouldn’t check in for a rebound until the end of the game. Head coach Mike Budenholzer attributed some of that to how well backup Mason Plumlee played. He provided good rim protection in his best game of the season.

“I thought he was fantastic tonight,” Budenholzer said of Plumlee. “There are different versions of going with the hot hand.”

Of all things, the Lakers’ shooting was better than the Suns’ in the third quarter, putting LA back in front, up by nine entering the fourth.

Phoenix stuck with it again, playing great defense since the early blunder in the first quarter.

“There have been periods in each of the games where the defense has been at a pretty high level,” Budenholzer said. “And the hardest thing is to keep it up for 48 minutes. … To go down like we did, I really feel like it was our defense that allowed us to get back in it and find a way to win.”

“It could be dangerous,” Durant said of the Suns’ defensive potential. “I think the more we align, the more creative we become with the things we do out there. … The coach is really good at getting (the players) to do things like (adjust), so once we get more and more on the same page, we’ll do creative things like that.

That backbone allowed Phoenix to retake the lead a few minutes into the final frame via big contributions from Ryan Dunn and Royce O’Neale off the bench, minutes in which the Suns went small without Nurkic, Plumlee or Oso Ighodaro on the floor. Budenholzer even rocked it for a few possessions while Davis was back in before Plumlee returned.

Durant took over next, and he did so admittedly in the delayed matchup chase that has plagued the Suns at times in this first week of the season. He scored the Suns’ next eight points midway through the fourth to cut the score to 105-101 Phoenix with 2:17 to go.

LeBron James hit a 3 to take a break from his breathtaking night (more on that later) and then Lakers coach JJ Redick decided he had seen enough of Durant hitting him. He immediately double-teamed Durant, and after Booker missed a 3, Plumlee grabbed a crucial offensive rebound. The next series of ball spins on the double led to O’Neale, who calmly knocked down a floater.

The Suns didn’t quite figure out the distance to the double play for Durant in the final 90 seconds, with the ball finding Booker on back-to-back possession while being defended by Davis. But some key misses by the Lakers kept Phoenix afloat, including a beautiful play by Redick that set Austin Reaves wide open, a rebound that Dunn fought for before Booker stopped him from going out of bounds straight to Durant.

“I knew he was around – that was a questionable play because you never know,” Booker said.

The Suns were up by three with 7.2 seconds left when Durant fouled James just before James went to shoot to spark free-throw shenanigans. The Lakers deliberately chose for James to miss the second after making the first, and in typical James fashion it was a perfect miss from the bottom of the rim to create a loose ball, but the Suns were awarded the win .

Durant produced 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks, Booker added 33 points and while Beal was 1-for-7 from 3, he was as good as those two, if not better. He was a deserving +14 and plays great all-around basketball, especially on defense.

O’Neale’s 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 25 minutes gave him +25, meaning he is now +71 in four games. That is tied for the highest mark in the NBA with Boston Celtics guard Derrick White.

“There are a lot of little subtle things it takes to win and Royce really understands those and does them night after night,” Budenholzer said.

Grayson Allen returned from his two-match absence with twelve minutes played. It’s a testament to how fantastic Dunn and O’Neale have been that the Suns haven’t missed much on Allen, their most consistent player from last season. Part of that also has to do with Budenholzer opening up his minutes more than he usually does, playing Booker 39 and Durant 38 on Monday.

This was literally a one-and-done performance from James, who shot 3 of 14 (21.4%) from the field. That’s his lowest field goal percentage in a regular-season game since opening night of the 2007-08 season, 1,179 games ago, according to Stathead. In testament to basketball fan Durant, he correctly recalled the opponent James faced that night, a game that took place on the date of his NBA debut.

Davis finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds, while Rui Hachimura was an early stud for LA, adding 20 points and 10 rebounds in this one.

The Suns committed just 11 turnovers and were even +5 at the free throw line. Even more bizarre, the Lakers were given a 25-21 advantage in assists. It was a strange night.

Follow @KellanOlson