This is what the star power of the Phoenix Suns was supposed to look like all year long.
A 29-point showing by four-time All-Star Devin Booker, an effortless 27 points and 11 rebounds by 15-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant, and then what felt like a turn-back-the-clock 25-point game from three-time All-Star Bradley Beal.
That’s a combined 81 points and 22 All-Star appearances.
Then there’s the Bulls.
Two All-Star appearances from Nikola Vucevic in his Orlando days, and a whole lot of question marks with 25 regular-season games to go.
“It’s tough,” Vucevic said after the 121-117 loss at the United Center. “They’re obviously three elite players and they demand a lot of attention. (Saturday) they all got it going and played well.”
And that was the gut punch in the team’s sixth-straight loss. The reality that even in games where the Bulls play hard, the talent gap is too wide to overcome.
Like they did in New York on Thursday, there were the Bulls hanging around, hanging around, and making sure never to go away.
With 2:10 left in the game, Durant hit two free throws to put the Suns up 113-111, and after a Vucevic missed baseline jumper, it was Durant once again at the free throw line thanks to a Julian Phillips foul on the rebound.
Durant again cashed in on both, putting the Bulls onto the edge of the danger zone. Booker made sure to shove them in.
After a Coby White drive and turnover, Booker nailed a clutch three with 1:08 left to make it a seven-point Suns lead. A star power flex. One that wasn’t finished, either.
The Bulls (22-35) again had it down to three with 34 seconds left, but after they attempted to double-team Durant, the two-time champion found Booker at the top of the key. The Bulls scrambled to rotate, but it was then a simple kick pass to Beal for the 25-footer. Game, set, and match courtesy of the trio.
It was that Beal three that Vucevic pointed to as a major difference in facing the Suns compared to most other teams, especially when Durant, Booker and Beal are on.
“That three that Bradley Beal hits, we’re trying to get the ball out of KD’s hands (with the double team) and then he goes to Booker, and then we have to rotate to that, and then he goes to a third guy, which is Beal,” Vucevic said. “Buy even with them having those great players and they played well, we still had a chance. It’s about mistakes that we made that hurt us.”
Mistakes that coach Billy Donovan had no problem pointing out.
Untimely turnovers late, the Phillips foul on Durant, and just too many fouls overall, as the Suns went to the free throw line 28 times compared to the home team making just 17 visits.
“When you watch them on film and they haven’t been totally whole (most of the season), the one thing that does stand out – and for the guys that are really great players and understand what’s going to happen as the game unfolds – they pass,” Donovan said. “And the reason they pass is because they know they’re going to get trapped.”
Exactly what Durant expected on that Beal three and exactly what he got.
“When you go and send two to the ball, which you have to do, and it finds Beal, you’re left at the mercy of trying to scramble and get there, and hope that he doesn’t make it,” Donovan added. “But the controllable stuff? We’ve just got to be really good at that because we don’t have a huge margin for error.”
Big picture? Not exactly an awful night if the goal is to stay competitive and still try and the best lottery odds as possible come May.