DENVER — — Kevin Durant was irrelevant with his jumper — until it mattered most.
Durant scored 35 points, including eight in overtime, and the short-handed Phoenix Suns rebounded from blowing a 22-point second-half lead to beat the Denver Nuggets 117-107 on Tuesday night.
After scoring just 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Suns scored 15 points in overtime, led by Durant and Bradley Beal, who scored five of 16 in overtime.
Durant’s biggest shot of the night was a game-tying 3-pointer with 26.6 seconds remaining. It was 3 of his previous 17 from the floor before this shot. But there was no doubt he was taking it.
“I knew going across half court, ‘It’s do or die here, I have to make this shot or it could be a game,'” said Durant, who was 14 of 34 from the field. “My fundamentals were good on that point.
“It felt good to get my hands off. … I love hearing the crowd go quiet. It’s always a good feeling on the road.”
Grayson Allen made eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points to help the Suns end a two-game slide.
Trailing 77-55 early in the third, Denver staged a furious comeback to turn what looked like a rout into a thriller. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:30 left, followed by a Jamal Murray basket to make it 102-99.
Durant equalized and set the stage for Nikola Jokic, whose last-second floater nearly sent the game into overtime.
“I’ve seen (Jokic) do that 95 times out of 100,” Murray said. “We all thought it was going to go in.”
Murray finished with 28 points while Jokic added 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists as the Nuggets saw their six-game winning streak snapped.
“Such a winnable match. This might be one of the worst losses we’ve ever had,” Murray said. “It’s tough. It’s just difficult.
Allen made eight straight 3-pointers, but missed his final four points once the Nuggets put Caldwell-Pope on him as their primary defender.
“They all felt good leaving my hands,” Allen said. “I saw a few come in early and I got more aggressive with the ones I was taking and they kept coming in.”
Jusuf Nurkic fouled out with 2:28 remaining while trying to contain Jokic. Nurkic pulled down 12 rebounds per game after grabbing a franchise-record 31 rebounds against Oklahoma City.
The Suns were missing Devin Booker (sprained ankle), Nassir Little (knee), Damion Lee (meniscus surgery) and Josh Okogie (abdominal sprain).
It was a big win for the Suns, who are in sixth place and on the verge of entering the play-in tournament.
“You look at the entire season, obviously the end result is always important, playing in the playoffs, trying to win a championship, it’s important,” Durant said. “But you celebrate the little moments.”
Trailing 43-36 in the second quarter, the Suns went on to 29-5 to open a comfortable advantage before halftime. The lead grew to 22 points early in the third before Denver’s surge.
“That was the message at halftime: We’re not playing hard enough,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone, whose team was outscored 37-18 in the second quarter. “I think we had a couple guys that showed up tonight in chill mode.
Jokic added to his tally of shots at the buzzer when he made a 26-foot turnaround to end the first quarter. His shot – nicknamed the “Sombor Shuffle” – energized the crowd and capped a quarter where the teams were 11 of 17 from 3-point range.
It was the second meeting between the Nuggets and Suns this season, but nothing like Denver’s 119-111 victory on Dec. 1 in Phoenix. In this contest, the Suns were without Booker, Damion Lee and Beal, while the Nuggets were missing Murray.
“It’s one of those where tomorrow we all feel better. Tomorrow we’ll have better clarity and a lot more positive energy,” said Murray, whose team shot 42.7 percent from the field. “But today it’s tough. It wasn’t just one person who didn’t shoot well, it was almost everyone. .”
FOLLOWING
Suns: Host Toronto on Thursday night.
Nuggets: Host Boston on Thursday night.
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