“Kevin Durant was other worldly” – ESPN reacts to Phoenix Suns beat Cleveland Cavaliers 117-111

“Kevin Durant was other worldly” – ESPN reacts to Phoenix Suns beat Cleveland Cavaliers 117-111

It went right down to the wire but you just watch the Suns top the Cavs in Cleveland 117 to 111 the final score thanks so much for watching this special postgame edition of Arizona’s family news I’m Derek stall let’s get some instant analysis right now from Mark

Hoops mclone Mark the Cavs are a good team right third place in the Eastern Conference this is the kind of team you need to beat if you’re going to be a playoff Contender so good on the Suns tonight yeah especially with Boston coming up on Thursday a rematch from

This last weekend you’ll have Devon Booker back for that and then you have Milwaukee on Sunday so starting off a road trip you needed this win they’re not going to get any easier for the Suns here down the stretch 18 games now left on the schedule and yeah not a lot of

Room left for error for this team the start of a cruiser four game road trip tonight in Cleveland and even though the Cavs didn’t have their best player Donovan Mitchell they still have proven to be a force they’ve beaten Boston and Minnesota in the last week so Devin

Booker was back after missing four games he scored 15 first half points and uh the story though in this one book came back but it was Darius Garland in the sun’s defense or lack of defenses Garland put on his show 21 first quarter points you just heard Booker talking to

Amanda flugrad about that that they had to put two guys on him the Suns gave up 70 in the first half but in the second half here comes the Suns Booker would get going third time as a charm right there getting his rebound and uh and putting in the bucket right there

Bradley Beal had 16 in the first half the easy break way Jam here cuts the lead to one the lead was 19 for the Cavs at one point and then the Suns would take the lead on this one as Grayson Allen makes a three not shocking from

The parking lot right there Kevin Durant kind of put this thing out of reach but man Cleveland is a good team and if they can make a little run here and get in the playoffs are going to give people fits especially if they get Donovan Mitchell back Cleveland right now yeah

The third seed um and yeah they’re going to be a force but uh the Suns get the victory they are off and and that’s big cuz they go one game ahead of Sacramento in the Western Conference standings in St out of the play in tournament you can hear all Frank vogel’s postgame news

Conference right now on aam.com and join us at 1035 Derek for the extra point to wrap up the day in sports wouldn’t miss it you know so the next two games on the road against the number one ranked Celtics then the number two ranked bucks what are your expectations both Road

Games both going to be really tough well with Booker only having one game back I don’t know that we’re going to see the Suns click on all cylinders he said he missed a lot of shots tonight but I think there’s so many eyes on this and

There is such a feeling of immediacy I think you’re going to see some of the sun’s best basketball I don’t think they played it to this point can they win a championship that’s the question we’re all asking ourselves right now I think we’ll have some more clues after these

Next two games yeah it’s a good measuring stick next couple of games Mark MCL depend a lot on in the playoffs you got to depend a lot on your bench they’re not going to have the stability to be able to depend on those guys so which means you’re going to wear those

Three guys out what he’s going to have to do is stag stagger them when they take him out take one out take two out take leave one in one in two out I mean he’s going to have to change it all up in order to make those guys have enough

Energy to finish games I’m excited to see the the rematch coming up in a few weeks hopefully the C have some healthy bodies because it could get really interesting round two in Phoenix Hey Kevin Durant wasn’t the only 30-point scorer in tonight’s game Darius Garland

Went off a career high in the first half for him he finished the game with 30 points knocked down seven threes here tonight added five assists and two rebounds AC what did you see from Darius G well I saw him he came out ready to play he was focused he understood what

He had to do and and really what was happening is he was trying to get his other guys involved but Phoenix kept leaving him open giving him opportunities because they knew he could pass the ball and when you know when teams know you can give it up then they

Have a tendency to play a little softer than normal and he took advantage of it in that first half and we talked about this coming into tonight’s game you wanted to see Darius Garland be a little more aggressive for himself personally offensively he took just nine shots last

Night against Brooklyn took 17 here tonight obviously it proved to be a big difference as the injuries continue we’ll wait and see what happens as this team now heads out on the road how important is it for Darius Garland to remain aggressive offensively if the injury report remains as it is well if

It stays like it is he has to be aggressive cuz he he’s the one guy in our perimeter that can give us what we need and and also because he has the ball as much he can get it to the man when he has to so he he’s got to stay

Aggressive because believe me the road trip coming up is not going to be easy and now the Cavs have to start putting some things putting some uh victories games in the win column they got to start getting that now so they can start building some type of feeling for how

They’re going to play in the playoffs that is so important at this time of year and it’s a tough time of year because the games come rapid fire oh they do the Cavaliers now getting set to head out on a three game game Road Trip starting in New Orleans certainly like

You said AC not going to be an easy trip hey I got a mic ice ice look you see the keys in the Box you don’t want be killing this this one that one that one I don’t want it that one no no no no no y’all came out

Late fam y’all came out late big bro y’all came out late though broy what’s upy what’s goody you good I’m good how you feeling bro I’m all right yeah I got a mic today I got a mic today miked up Bo started early Pete oh oh yeah

Y go ice no come on we good come on we good come on yeah yeah 20 yeah George hey B get in that girl pey game [Applause] one yeah ice get out get out get out get out get out come on white come on come on make it

Interesting he helped us rebound the basketball um you know so I thought all the things that we needed to try to win uh he was giving them to us Caris not usually in the starting lineup but today he had 11 assists what does his added facilitation bring to a team and allow

For Darius to have 30 points like he did tonight uh I mean he just you know makes everybody’s job easier um and he’s so unselfish that’s that’s what I love about Caris um you know he has an attack mindset uh but it’s not attack just for

Him you know he attacks to look and find his teammates um you know and I thought he did a great job of that tonight je uh Terry had 21 after the first quarter but only nine after that what did they do defensively to to slow him down uh they

Just started trapping him more um and trying to get the ball out of his hands you know when he was playing the pick and roll uh they switched their matchups so that different guys were guarding you know centers and that type of thing uh and he did the right thing you know they

Put two on him he got off the ball uh and we just had to make the play behind him spor Davis cider uh obviously there’s not too much to to look at and not be pleased with with the assists and the the turnovers keeping it pretty much

Like that but um does this come down to one play for you was it was it just the end of the game there where where it couldn’t get Jared couldn’t get to his hands on the ball uh I mean that’s a tough play um I mean we’ve seen Jared

Allen make that play you know 400 times in a in a row um so that was just a tough play and it it never Cavaliers 13 from Craig Porter Jr let’s head down to the locker room and hear from Craig came down to in the end um you know it just just came down to a few possessions I mean they were making shots sometimes when we weren’t and uh they just had a run and I mean being down bodies is always hard to try to

Claw back into games like that but I mean I feel like we we did everything I mean up to the standard of Cavaliers basketball and um we just got let that would get away from us you mentioned being down bodies you know how would you sayess how you guys still were able to

Handle Kevin Durant Bradley Beal and Deon Booker out there um I feel like we you know I mean guys like that they’re going to score their points no matter what but I mean I feel like we we were physical played good defense on them and

Uh I mean at the end of the day we we did what we could with them with the bodies given that we have but um I mean we we fought and that’s all that you can ask in this position and uh I’m just proud of these guys still how did you

Feel like you guys responded tonight after last night’s game I feel like we came back and just fought harder I mean the whole overall message was just come in and just give it you all even if you know we might be looked at as the underdog or whatever but I mean at the

End of the day this is this isn’t the first time we’ve been down this many bodies and had to claw out and get difficult wins so it was just the same messages always just be ready and whenever your name’s called Just Step Up what were you seeing from there to be

Able to attack the glass the way you did tonight um I just realized you know uh with their team I mean there are a lot of offensive minded people and uh I mean he’s a big body down there so they kind of let him rebound on his own and I just

Noticed that and I just tried to go in there and help rebound a lot thinking about you being able to have minutes in the fourth quarter there have been times where you’ve had good game cuz having gotten that opportunity what do it mean for you just today to have that

Opportunity to finish the game out uh it’s big I mean it just reminded me a lot of like the Lakers game the 76ers game you know you playing against these guys you used to play with on 2K and I mean it feels like a dream and then

You’re guarding them in the last minute and it’s just like it’s it feels surreal but you got to stay locked into that moment but I mean it’s it’s big it just gives me and my team a lot more confidence and it just kind of allows

Darius and Caris to just be able to be free and have somebody have to guard me and all of us because we’re all Playmakers obviously all three of you guys you Caris and Darius being semi- point guards in most times how do you guys feel like you compliment each

Other’s kind of skill sets with each other on the floor um it just makes defenses uh have to pick and choose the poison that they want to be stung with because I mean with me I can get into the middle of defenses dish it out to

Anybody or even score and create my own basket and really that’s the same with all three of us and we all are just crafty and can pass the ball and it just like I said it just Mak sure you have to choose what you want to give up at the

End of the day well AC we’ve seen some extended minutes for Craig Porter Jr over the last two games due to the injuries and once again he always seems to deliver what impresses you most about his play and the Poise that he plays with but his Poise to me a guy rookie in

This league even though he’s played 5 years of college ball and and and you can just see it he he doesn’t panic he takes his time he understands the situations and he understands the clock he and those are two things that really when you’re a rookie things are going through your

Head so fast man those situations it it really but he understands that and you can see the team responds to that too they play a lot calmer and everybody seems to be much more under control I’m really impressed with this young man he has a bright future ahead of him yeah

He’s an rookie he has a lot of experience playing 5 years of college ball and it certainly has showed on the next stage here in the NBA he was a key part of the Cavs ball movement here tonight the Cavaliers finishing with 30 assists on 40 made field goals AC

Especially in the first half the ball was just bouncing around the offense was flowing so well this has been a point of emphasis for you on a nightly basis for this team what allowed the ball to move so well tonight activity everybody was moving if you notice you look at all

These replays all five guys are moving at one time and that gives you so many options and it creates a lot of of of anks for the defense because the defense they don’t know who’s coming where it’s going and that if that ball makes two or three quick movements it’s amazing how

The ball creates energy and how it can find the open man yeah it certainly did five Cavalier scoring in double figures Jerry scarland Leading The Way with 30 let’s talk Caris lever because he was also the team’s leading assister here tonight AC finished with 17 points on seven assist 16 shooting added 11

Assists and six rebounds that’s a pretty typical statline for Carris Levert which sounds crazy but he always does a little bit of everything what jumped out at you tonight about Carris he he played his regular game he’s a jack of all trades he does everything he assists the ball

He shoots the ball he scores the ball he does a lot of things and he he defends too great defender I mean he does it all put the Cavaliers in all a lot of different ways so I was really impressed it was his regular game and he knew knew

He had to have a game like that because we were depleted Personnel wise and what a bounce back for Caris he finished with just six points last night again a complete stat line for him 17 points 11 assists and six Sports doing a little bit of everything as we expect from car

On a nightly basis five C scored a dou figures one of he for For spee speech Speech foreign spe fore speech spe foreign speech For speech foreign fore fore I out go fore foreign spee speech spee Fore for speee foree foreign Speeech for spee Foreign spee speee spee spe

“Kevin Durant was other worldly” – ESPN reacts to Phoenix Suns beat Cleveland Cavaliers 117-111