On October 9, Beijing time, the 2024-25 NBA preseason continued. In today's preseason game, there was a direct conversation between the Suns and Pistons, two teams in the East and West. In this game, the Suns' big three Durant, Booker and Beal are all on the line. In the last preseason game against the Lakers, Durant did not perform well on 3-of-10 shooting, and many questioned his current ability. In today's game, Durant showed people how terrible he is when he gets serious.
In the first quarter of the game, the Pistons continuously impacted the Suns' interior line and quickly took the initiative. Durant stepped up and scored consecutive points to help the Suns stabilize the situation, and the Suns' outside shooters were on fire, making consecutive three-pointers, and with Beal's three-point shot in the first quarter, the Suns led the Pistons by 7 points. In the second quarter, both teams' shooting percentages declined, and the Pistons took the opportunity to chase the points, and O'Neal hit two consecutive three-pointers to help the Suns maintain their lead.
In the second half of the game, the Pistons began to narrow the difference, they once chased down to only 2 points, and at the critical moment, Durant stepped up, he scored easily, and after a wave of operations, helped the Suns extend their lead, and at the end of the third quarter, the Suns extended the lead to more than 10 points again. In the fourth quarter, the two teams switched to full bench lineups, and the two sides entered practice time, and the Suns always maintained the lead, and finally defeated the Pistons 105-97.
In this game, Durant played efficiently. He played 19 minutes, shooting 8-of-12 from the field, 4-of-6 from three-point range, and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line, scoring 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal with a plus/minus of +10. Even at this age, after a major injury, as long as Durant wants to score, no one on the planet can stop him, and that's the dominance of a superstar. This can be seen from Durant's strong performance at this year's Olympics.
Stats for both players:
Suns: Durant 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Plumlee 5 points and 3 rebounds, Jones 7 points, 7 assists and 2 steals, Beal 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, Booker 10 points and 3 assists, Kaminsky 3 points, O'Neal 11 points, Ryan Dunn 10 points and 4 rebounds, Okogie 4 points and 2 rebounds, Bol Bol 2 points and 2 rebounds, Iguodalo 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Morris 4 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Gillespie 9 points, Washington 1 point and 2 rebounds
Pistons: Fontecchio 8 points and 4 rebounds, Duren 17 points and 5 rebounds, Cunningham 3 points, 2 rebounds and 8 assists, Ivey 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Beasley 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Reed 3 points and 3 assists, Erwoma 4 points and 2 rebounds, Holland 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Hardaway Jr. 3 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Stevens 2 points and 4 rebounds, Stewart 9 points and 5 rebounds, McCoy 5 points, Suser 3 points, Moore 3 points, Jenkins 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists