Watch: Durant ties career-high in assists, posts triple-double in win

In accordance with StatMuse, Durant’s 10 first-half assists have been essentially the most in any half of his storied profession.

Guards Devin Booker and Eric Gordon have been the principle beneficiaries of Durant’s selfless play, combining for 47 factors, with Gordon taking pictures 10-of-15 from the sphere and 7-of-11 from past the arc.

The efficiency ought to quiet some skeptics about Durant’s emotions towards the Suns after they have been known as into query following a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

“Begin with Kevin Durant. You speak to folks in Phoenix and round that group,” Wojnarowski stated on a Christmas Day version of “NBA Countdown.” “They’ll really feel the frustration with Durant. A part of that, definitely, is the missed video games for Bradley Beal. This group was constructed round these three stars. The underwhelming supporting solid that comes from these huge trades for Durant and Beal that basically gutted the group and left them having to signal a variety of minimal gamers to fill out the payroll.”

Whereas it is encouraging to see Durant reply to the rumors by placing collectively one in every of his finest performances of the season, Phoenix nonetheless has loads of work to do to get to the place it was anticipated to be. 

Having the trio of Durant, Booker and Beal within the lineup on the identical time for an prolonged interval could be a promising begin, as they’ve performed simply 24 minutes collectively. 

Nonetheless, getting there will not be simple, particularly contemplating the Suns have the third-most tough remaining power of schedule within the Affiliation, per Tankathon.