Utah Jazz @ Phoenix Suns
Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 10:00 PM ET
Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ | Game ID: 22300094
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
PHX 37 29 40 20 126UTA 27 23 28 26 104
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Kevin Durant scores 26 points as the Suns easily handle the Jazz 126-104
PHOENIX -- — Grayson Allen cut into the lane before rising up and flushing an unexpected one-handed jam in traffic, pushing the Phoenix lead to 30 points midway through the third quarter.
Two-thirds of the Suns' star trio was out with injuries on Saturday night, but the supporting cast showed it can put up some numbers, too.
Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Eric Gordon added 21 and the Suns easily handled the Utah Jazz 126-104.
“Tonight was one of those nights that we moved in the right direction,” Durant said.
The Suns dominated the majority of the game, never trailing after the first few minutes. They opened a 16-point lead by halftime and led by 30 midway through the third quarter after Allen brought the crowd to its feet with his jam .
Phoenix's star trio was a solo act on Saturday, and Durant provided a methodical 8-of-11 shooting performance. The 13-time All-Star hit all nine of his free throws and dished seven assists. Devin Booker (ankle) missed his second straight game and Bradley Beal (back) has missed all three games this season.
Durant played just 29 minutes, watching from the bench as the Suns enjoyed their comfortable lead.
First-year Suns coach Frank Vogel said he's pleased that the team is also executing on the defensive end of the floor. Utah shot just 44% from the field.
“They're executing our scheme at a pretty high level, and they're doing it with a great deal of effort, hustle and scrappiness, which is what we're asking them to do," Vogel said. “We know we have elite talent on this basketball team, and if the effort piece is greater than our opponent, we're going to be really tough to beat."
Allen added 17 points, while Jusuf Nurkic had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Phoenix poured in 40 points in the third quarter to put away the game.
“Grayson got it going in the third, and we were able to move off of one another,” Durant said. “That's what basketball is all about. It's an exciting win and hopefully we can build on this.”
The Jazz had 19 turnovers in a sloppy performance. Lauri Markkanen had 19 points, making five 3-pointers. Collin Sexton scored 14 points over the bench while rookie Keyonte George , the 16th overall pick out of Baylor, added 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“I think there were moments when our bodies were a little slow,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “We weren’t able to make up for that because we did not do a good enough job with our brains and our mouth communicating.”
Phoenix took a 66-50 lead at halftime after shooting 54% from the field. Gordon scored 21 points in the first half on 9-of-12 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range. Durant added 14 points and five assists.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
UTACS C. Sexton
JC J. Clarkson
JC J. Collins
KD K. Dunn
KG K. George
KO K. Olynyk
LM L. Markkanen
LS L. Samanic
OA O. Agbaji
OY O. Yurtseven
SF S. Fontecchio
TH T. Horton-Tucker
WK W. Kessler
PHXBB B. Bol
CM C. Metu
DE D. Eubanks
EG E. Gordon
GA G. Allen
JG J. Goodwin
JN J. Nurkić
JO J. Okogie
KB K. Bates-Diop
KD K. Durant
NL N. Little
NU Nurkic
SL S. Lee
UA U. Azubuike
YW Y. Watanabe
UTA/PHX the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur