The Phoenix Suns picked up an impressive win on Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, an opponent who came to encapsulate a lot of their problems last season. Going back to a year ago, and the team dropped a pair of back-to-back contests to then rookie Victor Wembanyama and a cobbled together rotation of players.
Wembanyama is even better in year two, while former Suns’ point guard Chris Paul is organizing the show over there and already seeing positive results. So to win the game and hold the Spurs to only 93 points was a nice victory to move the club to 12-8, even if it wasn’t enough to advance to the quarter-finals of the Emirates NBA Cup.
Durant was only appearing in his third game having missed over two weeks with a calf strain. The franchise taking the correct course of action by holding Durant out as long as possible to rest. The Suns slid down the Western Conference while he was gone – alongside Bradley Beal who had the same issue – but nobody ever remember how many games a team won and lost in November.
The Suns had the big picture in mind – and in being forced to leave in the second-quarter of this one – it was once again throw into some doubt. It is already unclear if he will be back for their next game against the New Orleans Pelicans, although if ever there was a game to skip, it is surely versus a 4-18 Pelicans organization that are in disarray.
What will be telling however is if Durant makes the trip to New Orleans, as that begins a three-game road trip that also takes in the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. A pair of games that the team would much rather have Durant for. The Heat may have struggled themselves this season, but the Magic have already won their first meeting in Phoenix.
They are the kind of long team that can switch anything defensively and are playing with a real hunger under head coach Jamahl Mosley. Having a player with the offensive abilities – as well as size – in Durant is exactly what the Suns need to pick up some wins on the road. We all know how their last trip went with just Devin Booker leading the charge.
As for exiting the Emirates NBA Cup itself? Qualifying for the quarter-finals was always out of their hands, and they did their part in beating the Spurs at home. If anything they can now get back to the main task at hand, which is trying to obtain the highest seed possible in the West ahead of the playoffs.
The path to achieving this includes having Durant going full tilt, and if there is one silver lining here, it is in the fact that this was a left ankle sprain. The 36-year-old has torn his achilles in the past, but that was on his right foot. Perhaps pushing for Beal to come off the bench moving forward actually isn’t the play to make in light of this latest setback with Durant.
