Game Recap: Durant, Allen lead Suns to victory over scrappy Raptors, 120-113

The Phoenix Suns pulled out another win, improving to 37-26. They are 21-13 on their home floor this season.

It wasn’t pretty and Toronto fought to hang around all night long, but Kevin Durant and company put the finishing touches on the young Raptors squad.

It was the Grayson Allen show early on, but the balanced attack from the Suns’ key players ultimately led to their 37th win of the season.

Key Performers

• Grayson Allen — 26 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 8-14 3PFG
• Kevin Durant — 35 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 11-19 FG
• Bradley Beal — 20 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds 8-16 FG
• Immanuel Quickley — 21 points, 17 assists, 9 rebounds, 9-17 FG
• Gary Trent Jr. — 30 points, 3 rebounds, 5-13 3PFG

Game Flow

First Half

Grayson Allen and the Suns got off to a hot shooting start from deep. Allen connected on five of his first six 3-point attempts in the opening 8 minutes.

Kevin Durant and Royce O’Neale joined Allen on the fun with a triple of their own early, giving the Suns a 7-for-13 shooting clip from deep in the first 9 minutes of play. Phoenix led 31-19 early, leading to a Toronto timeout.

Right out of the timeout, you guessed it. Grayson Allen drilled another three, his sixth in the period! Right as I finished typing the sentence above, Allen splashed his seventh. It was an unreal display of shot-making from deep.

Grayson Allen The Phoenix Suns took a 39-25 lead into the second quarter after a 21-point opening quarter from the former Duke Blue Devil. Allen broke a franchise record for threes made in a quarter.

The early stages of the second quarter saw the teams trading buckets.

A Suns full timeout at the 6:59 mark came after the basket-trading in at that point an 11-11 score in the quarter. Suns led 50-36.

An impressive Bol Bol one-legged runner gave the Suns a 54-36 lead, giving him 7 points and 6 rebounds on 3-4 shooting early.

Grayson Allen’s first three-point attempt in the second quarter? You guessed it. Splash.

Bradley Beal quietly pieced together a strong start with 9 points, and 6 assists on 4-6 shooting early. Jusuf Nurkic brought energy on the glass, gobbling up 11 rebounds in his first 16 minutes of play.

At the half, Phoenix led 67-53.

Second Half

The Raptors opened up the third quarter strong, jumping ahead to a 13-6 advantage to cut the Suns’ lead down to seven.

That was enough for Frank Vogel to call a timeout with his team leading, 73-66. Phoenix responded well out of the timeout, answering with a pair of buckets to extend their lead to 11.

Toronto immediately countered with a timeout of their own. They came out with even more fire, going on a 6-0 run to cut the Suns’ lead down to five.

The Raptors continued to dominate the third quarter, playing with more aggression and energy than a Phoenix team that looked too relaxed. Toronto cut the lead down to three, 83-80.

Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

Phoenix woke up to close the quarter out on a 6-2 run to take a 89-82 lead into the final twelve minutes of action.

The fourth quarter started with a 7-2 Suns run, only to be followed up by a 7-0 Raptors counter punch.

Vogel signaled for a timeout with 9:03 remaining in the 4th leading 96-91.

Bol Bol provided the Suns with a couple majestic buckets late in this one.

The Raptors’ physical defense tried to disrupt the Suns’ stars, but they found a rhythm early in the 4th.

Everytime the Suns started to pull away, Toronto countered and found a way to make things interesting.

Ultimately Phoenix hung on and closed it out led by Kevin Durant’s big quarter. On to the next one.

Up Next?

Suns vs. Celtics — Saturday, March 9th at 6:30 p.m. on ABC.