By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Phoenix Suns never trailed once and closed out the win over the Utah Jazz in impressive fashion, 114-106, in the ongoing NBA regular season on January 12, 2025.
After taking the lead since the opening bell rang, the Suns never looked back and put the Jazz in a catch-up situation until the fourth quarter expired.
Devin Booker continued his All-Star form performance and led Phoenix with a game-high 34-point outing in just 36 minutes of playing time.
The superstar shooting guard was torching Utah from the get-go and capped off the big-time win with an efficient 12/20 shooting from the field including six three-pointers and a perfect 4/4 shooting from the charity stripe.
Booker’s pull-up jumper game was pure all game long as he dissected Utah’s slow pick-and-roll defense, capitalizing on the small gaps he got to rise for the perimeter jump shot.
Every time the Jazz threatened to retake the driver’s seat, Booker’s timely buckets helped the Suns build another lead and spoiled Utah’s comeback attempts.
In the fourth, Utah drained consecutive baskets that pulled them to within four points, but Booker’s back-to-back fade-away jumpers backstopped by Kevin Durant’s three-pointer forced the Jazz to call another timeout.
From that sequence, Utah failed to recover and could only watch Booker and Durant showcase their offensive bag on their home court.
Durant extended his streak with 20 points or more to 14 straight games as the veteran sniper delivered an all-around performance of 25 markers, seven assists, five rebounds, and a steal.
Grayson Allen also chipped in much-needed deuces, mostly in the second half, and tallied 14 points, four boards, four dimes, and two steals in the win.
On the other hand, the Suns spoiled Lauri Markkanen’s 24-point outing, as well as Collin Sexton’s 20 for their third straight loss.
