Phoenix Suns react to comeback win over Miami Heat

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns are now 7-1 on the season after yet another comeback, this time erasing a 15-point second-half deficit to beat the Miami Heat 115-112.

The Suns closed the third quarter on a 15-3 run, and in true Kevin Durant style, he again hit a clutch shot against Phoenix within seconds before finally securing the victory.

“Well, it feels like it really started around the third to five minute mark of the third quarter; I think we were down 10. It wasn’t our best third game and I thought the end of the third quarter was awesome,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said after the game. Phoenix is ​​now off to its best eight-game start in franchise history.

“Grayson (Allen) hit a three, I think Devin) Book got a plus-one, I thought that stretch was really important. Kevin Durant) threw several punches; I thought we had some kicks in transition. (Jusuf) Nurkic defended in a lot of places, I thought he really helped us by going after (Tyler) Herro, so a lot of people contributed to a lot of things that led to the win.”

The Suns left Footprint Center with a victory despite shooting just 72% from the free throw line and committing 16 turnovers.

Durant says the delay to end the third quarter was huge for Phoenix, which maintained its six-game winning streak.

“Yes, it was huge. I think it was a game right there. They were 15 points ahead and we cut that lead pretty quickly. No losses kept them in the game. They were 20 points behind our losses. That’s what kept them going,” Durant said.

“This is the statistic that stuck with me. But mostly on defense, holding them to 43% shooting. They hit a few 3-pointers tonight, but for the most part I thought we saw some good defensive work. I think our turnovers were the reason they got the lead, but the end of the third quarter was very important for us.”

This isn’t the first or second time the Suns have had to overcome a big lead in the second half of a game on their way to victory.

“We keep our balance. We don’t let this get us down. The guys don’t panic on the bench. Coaches don’t get up screaming and get upset. I think we’re just trying to focus on doing well on the next possession and moving on from there,” Durant continued.

“Coach called timeouts a couple times when they made some runs and we scored in those timeouts and also got stops. This is usually the key to success. So just keep your balance and understand every moment that we can learn from.”

Phoenix returns to action Friday night when they travel to play the Dallas Mavericks.