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    • What we learned from Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns top Jazz in NBA Cup
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    What we learned from Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns top Jazz in NBA Cup

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    SALT LAKE CITY – Don’t wear your shorts Tuesday night.

    Devin Booker looked better as he led the Phoenix Suns past the Utah Jazz, 120-112, in the NBA Cup West Group B game at Delta Center.

    With a game-high 31 points, Booker may have just gotten over the illness that caused him to suffer from fatigue during Sunday’s overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings. He went 5-of-9 from 3.

    The Suns met the Kings again in a game late Wednesday in Sacramento in the second of a back-to-back.

    Tuesday night, Bradley Beal delivered 24 points in 29 minutes, but he did not return to the game after checking out with 7:19 left in the fourth.

    Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Beal went to the locker room with a tight left calf and was unsure of his status for Wednesday’s game.

    Beal said it was a precaution to sit out of the game, believes it is partly due to the knee injury he suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Kings and was hopeful he would play Wednesday.

    He felt tight after kicking himself on a crossover move in the third quarter. Beal has taken it out due to a sore right shoulder, a right elbow sprain, a bruised ankle, a knee and now a tight fibula.

    John Collins led the Jazz (2-8) with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

    The Suns (9-2) are now 1-1 under Kevin Durant, who missed his second game due to a left calf injury that will sideline him for Phoenix’s next five games.

    Due to a reevaluation over the weekend of November 23-24, Durant did not make the trip to Utah to begin a four-game road trip.

    Here are three takeaways from Phoenix’s victory.

    Point difference in the NBA Cup

    The Suns still have just one double-digit win, a 114-102 victory over Dallas in the home opener.

    They weren’t able to get a second win against a two-win Jazz team in a situation where points difference matters in the NBA Cup.

    They are winning, which is the actual endgame, but the Suns could use a comfortable win. If nothing else, just to prove to themselves that they can put away teams.

    It looked like they were on their way to a double-digit win when Booker hit a 3 to put the Suns up 117-103 with 1:27 to go.

    They were still up by 11 when they looked for a 2-for-1 situation to increase their point differential, but Grayson Allen missed a 3 with 33.3 seconds left. If he makes it, Phoenix will be back at fourteen.

    The Suns instead gave up two threes to Jordan Clarkson, who made the difference six with 17.1 seconds left.

    Budenholzer was not coaching last season when the first In-Season Tournament took off. He said winning after the match is the most important thing, but he understands the entertainment part of this.

    Booker said he wished all games were like this, believing that if running up the score wasn’t considered a bad thing, teams would play hard until the final buzzer.

    It’s tough, but the Suns still haven’t put teams away by double-digit margins, even in an NBA Cup game, even though that’s part of determining who advances to the quarterfinals outside of group play.

    Plumlee and Oghodaro compensate for Nurkic’s absence

    Suns coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t believe there’s just one thing wrong with Jusuf Nurkic’s sore left ankle, but it was enough to shorten Sunday night’s halftime game and not play at all Tuesday night.

    He hopes Nurkic’s injury is “short-lived”.

    The Suns were more than able to get by without him against the Jazz thanks to Mason Plumlee and Oso Ighaharo.

    The Jazz were without Walker Kessler due to right hip soreness, leaving them with a big man. So they started John Collins at the five and played rookie Kyle Filipowski and veteran Drew Eubanks who was with the Suns last season.

    Collins can score. So his huge night is no shocker.

    Filipowski went for a career-high 18 points off the bench, 13 more than his 5.1 scoring average coming into the game.

    That was a bonus for Utah. As for Eubanks, he gave them four points off the bench in four minutes.

    Very solid contributions, but Plumlee and Ighodaro helped offset these efforts by combining for 21 points and 26 rebounds, with rebounding being the main contribution.

    Plumlee recorded a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds, while Ighodaro scored six points and grabbed a career-high 12 boards after tallying 11 totals in his first five games.

    Scorers like to play with big players like that.

    How the Suns won without Durant

    They fit well within the offense in terms of dribble handoffs, diving to the rim, offensive rebounds and making the right pass.

    Let’s count the ways.

    First, Booker hit the clutch shots to keep the Jazz at bay while exciting the crowd. He closed the way Durant would have when it comes to shot making.

    Second, Beal was in the bag when it came to the pullups, the stop and pops, and getting to the rim.

    If the Suns can get him to be that aggressive with Durant on the floor, it will make the Suns even more difficult to guard. If he hadn’t experienced tight calves, Suns would have won by more than 10.

    Third, Plumlee and Ighodaro were extremely solid. Read above.

    Four: Phoenix shot 18 of 39 from 3, outscored the Jazz by 10 boards, 42-32, and committed just 10 turnovers, leading to just 11 Utah points.

    Grayson Allen found the touch from deep with a 4-for-9 effort, much to the delight of the Jazz crowd as he spent his rookie season in Utah.

    Beal went 4-for-7 on 3s and said after the game that Utah is one of his favorite places to play. He called Delta Center a “shooter’s gym.”

    Rookie Ryan Dunn made both of his threes with the second from the corner after a Booker find to push Phoenix’s lead back to double figures, 114-103, with 2:04 left.

    Five: Phoenix is ​​simply a better team. Give Utah credit for the struggle, but the Suns should have won.

    The bigger test will come Wednesday in the second of a back-to-back against a team that has multiple closers to some extent in DeMar DeRozan and De’Aaron Fox. The Suns will have to stop while the Kings chased Tyus Jones and tried to take advantage of his lack of size.

    If Nurkic and Beal don’t play, they’ll really have to lean on their depth, especially in the second of a back-to-back. The Suns went 10 deep on Tuesday, with Monte Morris getting minutes after the last game on November 2 against Portland.

    Still no Bol Bol to be seen on the track. It’s interesting.

    Do you have an opinion on the current state of the suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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