SACRAMENTO, California – Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Jusuf Nurkic sank a late free throw and the Phoenix Suns rallied to beat the Sacramento Kings 108-107 on Friday night.
With the game tied at 107 after Phoenix overcame a 16-point deficit, Domantas Sabonis fouled Nurkic scrambling for the rebound of a missed shot by the Suns’ Grayson Allen. Nurkic, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, missed the first but made the second to give the Suns the lead with 8.1 seconds remaining.
Bradley Beal then stripped De’Aaron Fox as Fox tried to set up for a potential game-winning shot on the other end. Fox claimed Beal fouled him on the play, and Kings coach Mike Brown said it looked like Beal slapped Fox on the arm.
“He was nowhere near the ball,” Fox said.
Brown lamented that his team did not take advantage of the whistle, also complaining about the lack of box-out on Sabonis in a tight game, “when the game is as physical as it is.”
“From my seat, I’m perplexed,” Brown said. “I don’t know why we couldn’t get a call from an NBA official in the future.”
Suns coach Frank Vogel called the win “strong,” praising his team for holding the Kings to 107 points and throwing 18 turnovers. He called Beal the “star of the game defensively.”
“Throughout his career, he hasn’t had many opportunities to make the playoffs,” Vogel said. “So his care factor is as high as anyone in the organization, and you see that with the passion he’s playing with.”
Devin Booker added 21 points for Phoenix and Beal had 20. Sabonis had 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists for the Kings.
Both teams are headed to the postseason, but the game had major implications for the Suns’ seventh seed and the Kings’ eighth seed in the West.
The Suns have won nine of their last 13 games, entering the day one game behind sixth-place New Orleans for the final spot in the automatic playoffs. With one game left in the season, Phoenix owns the tiebreaker if the teams finish with the same record.
The Kings have lost five of six and cannot finish higher than eighth. With the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory on Friday, Sacramento is in danger of falling to ninth or 10th place, which would force the Kings to win two play-in games to advance to the full postseason.
“I hope I’m wrong, because to get another two-minute report saying they made a crucial mistake in a game of this magnitude when we’re fighting for our lives in the playoffs is just unfair,” Brown said.
Durant said that in the playoffs the technical part of the game matters less than the desire to win. The Suns won Friday’s game by fighting for a rebound and with a key defensive play.
“Every team knows all their sets,” Durant said. “They know who you are, inside and outside as a player. So it all comes down to who wants it more and who has more desire. We can’t rely on sets that the coach puts together all the time.”
The Suns’ star power always gives them a chance, according to Nurkic.
“The trust part is more like: We have to do this,” Nurkic said.
The Kings led 54-45 at halftime. Keegan Murray scored 12 points in the second quarter as Sacramento went up 9-0.
NEXT
Suns: At Minnesota on Sunday to end the regular season.
Kings: Will host Portland on Sunday to close out the regular season.
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AP NBA:
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