One villain, one hero: a man named Durant

Kevin Durant is, and always has been, a difficult man to analyze. A pure generational talent, with a historically unmatched offensive quality that at the same time is ambivalent in his relationship with public opinion., has forced controversial transfers and has thrown away the odd season in the dry dock due to his well-known injuries. Now, does his signing of him by the Suns make those from Arizona candidates? The quickest answer is that yes, it would be logical in a roster that now includes Chris Paul, Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton with Durant himself. But for the association to work it takes two months, even something else, completely healthy and without anything strange happening to a group of players who have already had more than one problem to decide at the moment of truth. Yes indeed: Durant’s signing it gives them a unique perspective, which they didn’t have before. And an opportunity: that is undeniable.

The Suns beat the Nuggets in Arizona in a game that cost them more than it should if we take into account that the Denver franchise reserved Nikola Jokic for the playoffs, already with the first place in the Western Conference achieved and thinking about everything that is coming. But they won, after all, and that’s what it’s all about: adding, continuing to advance in what is called chemistry and rapport in the face of a final phase that will already have a first round that will be legendary. There they will play it against the Clippers or the Warriors (it is almost impossible for it to be against the Lakers) in an assault in which they will jump the court and that none of their rivals want to face. Against a very dangerous team, which has just signed Kevin Durant and which, in addition, will have a guaranteed field advantage in the first round. They are already fourth (45-35 balance now) and in that position they are going to stay. And it is a fact.

Durant scored 29 points… and played almost 41 minutes. Not something to ignore: It shows that the star is in good shape and that he can spend enough time on the track to tip the scales and give his team victory. Durant is committed, he only missed three games after arriving and has already played 8 rounds with the Suns for an unequivocal result: 8-0. Tonight’s 29 points came from 9 of 18 shooting from the field, 6 of 10 from 3-pointers and 5 of 7 from free throws. And he also had 7 rebounds and 4 assists (with 4 turnovers). A performance that, without being particularly excellent (if we talk about Durant, of course), It is correct enough to keep adding, give excellent feelings and get a victory without the team playing very well. Something very important, because if you want to go far in the fight for the ring, you also have to win when you play badly.

The other proper name of the duel was that of Chris Paul: 25 points in 37 minutes with 6 rebounds and 2 assists with a superb shooting performance: 9 of 15 on field goals and 7 of 12 on free throws. Great news for the point guard, that he is not in his best season at 37 (he will turn 38 on May 6) and that it is good for him to regain confidence ahead of the playoffs that have not always gone very well . The Suns made up for Bruce Brown’s great game (31+6+4 with 11 of 18 shooting from the field) with Durant, Paul, 16 points from Ayton and 15 from Booker, the other two legs of the table. And they increase their victories box again, another one with the unbeaten Durant. That he has been a hero, a villain, an incomparable athlete and an ambivalent character. That he has been and that of course, it is. After all, in addition to all that is Kevin Durant. And with him, everything is possible.

phoenix suns

Statistics

8 terrence ross
3 chris paul
18 Bismack Biyombo
35 Kevin Durant
fifteen cameron payne
1 Devin Booker
10 Damion Lee
0 Torrey Craig
22 deandre ayton
2 josh okogie
14 Landry Shamet
eleven Jock Landale
55 Darius Bazley
38 know read
12 Ish Wainright

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
8 terrence ross	fifteen	8	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	23	0	0	0
3 chris paul	37	25	6	1	5	2	1	1	1	0/0	23	7/12	0	0	0
18 Bismack Biyombo	eleven	4	3	2	1	0	1	0	0	2/2	1/3	0/0	0	1	0
35 Kevin Durant	40	29	7	0	7	4	4	0	1	5/7	3/8	6/10	0	0	0
fifteen cameron payne	7	2	1	0	1	3	0	1	0	0/0	1/1	0/1	0	2	0
1 Devin Booker	37	fifteen	1	0	1	8	2	0	0	8/8	2/7	1/5	0	3	0
10 Damion Lee	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
0 Torrey Craig	22	eleven	3	0	3	2	0	0	1	0/0	4/6	1/2	0	3	0
22 deandre ayton	31	16	5	2	3	2	1	0	2	2/2	7/9	0/0	0	4	0
2 josh okogie	twenty-one	5	3	1	2	2	1	2	1	3/6	1/2	0/2	0	1	0
14 Landry Shamet	7	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0/0	1/2	0/1	0	0	0
eleven Jock Landale	5	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0/0	1/1	0/0	0	0	0
55 Darius Bazley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
38 know read	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
12 Ish Wainright	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0

Denver Nuggets

Statistics

32 Jeff Green
6 DeAndre Jordan
7 reggie jackson
14 ish smith
13 Thomas Bryant
31 Vlatko Cancar
eleven Bruce Brown
22 Zeke Nnaji
0 Christian Braun
8 peyton watson
10 Jack White

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
32 Jeff Green	22	14	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	3/4	1/1	3/6	0	0	0
6 DeAndre Jordan	30	12	eleven	3	8	1	1	0	0	0/0	6/6	0/0	0	1	0
7 reggie jackson	30	twenty	3	0	3	6	2	2	0	4/4	5/10	2/5	0	3	0
14 ish smith	22	eleven	3	0	3	6	1	1	0	1/2	5/11	0/1	0	1	0
13 Thomas Bryant	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
31 Vlatko Cancar	twenty	2	3	0	3	0	0	2	2	0/0	1/1	0/2	0	2	0
eleven Bruce Brown	38	31	6	3	3	4	2	0	0	9/9	11/17	0/1	0	1	0
22 Zeke Nnaji	17	7	2	1	1	1	2	0	0	0/0	23	1/2	0	4	0
0 Christian Braun	33	fifteen	4	2	2	3	2	2	0	1/2	4/6	2/5	0	3	0
8 peyton watson	25	3	5	0	5	2	2	0	0	1/2	1/5	0/1	0	4	0
10 Jack White	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0