By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Phoenix Suns relied on a flawless second-half outing to repel the Philadelphia 76ers, 109-99, during an inter-conference duel in the ongoing NBA regular season on January 7, 2025.
With the much-needed victory, Phoenix just snapped its four-game NBA losing streak and returned to the winning column after a disappointing past week.
Shades of their losses against the Indiana Pacers and the Memphis Grizzlies hunted them in the first quarter after starting the game slow again as they only put up five points across the board in the first six minutes of action.
However, Bradley Beal’s first game off the bench helped the Suns flip the switch, as his microwave scoring as a sixth man ignited Phoenix back into the ball game. Two days ago, the Phoenix coaching staff announced that they would be relegating the former NBA All-Star to the sideline and will not start together with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
That collective decision then paid off dividends as Beal became the primary scorer of the second unit and provided the counter-offensive runs that steered the Suns to a massive third-quarter surge, outscoring the 76ers, 36-27.
After Beal’s eruption, Durant then started to operate in the perimeter and capitalized on every switch mismatch they ran to get their superstar forward more advantageous plays.
Booker didn’t put up his usual scoring numbers but he orchestrated the Phoenix offense, locating the open wing shooters to end up with a team-high 10 assists.
Philadelphia threatened to get back midway through the fourth as the duo of Paul George and Tyrese Maxey hit some timely buckets but Durant scored back-to-back fade-away jumpers capped off by a reverse layup to balloon their cushion back to double digits.
Ryan Dunn was also efficient in his start and knocked down a barrage of three-pointers and was also pesky on the defensive end as he took on the challenge of guarding George in the game.
Beal led Phoenix in the bounce-back victory and delivered 25 points built from a 10/15 shooting from the field including three treys and a perfect trip from the free throw line.
Durant added 23 markers, six rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block, while Dunn sprayed 15 points and pulled down four boards.
On the other hand, the 76ers missed Joel Embiid as the star center is still nursing a left foot sprain and a right sinus fracture. In his absence, Maxey carried the offensive load and tallied a game-high 31 points and 10 assists.
