After 24 games, Suns fans finally got to see the long-awaited debut of the their “Big Three” of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, but that long-awaited event was overshadowed by the long-awaited return of Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.
Bridges (21 points) and Johnson (15 points), otherwise known as “The Twins,” returned to the Footprint Center on Wednesday night with the Brooklyn Nets and pulled out a 116-112 road win.
This was the first time the two had returned to play in Phoenix since the blockbuster trade last February to acquire Kevin Durant.
It was an emotional scene before the game as the two former Suns were honored with a tribute video during player introductions.
“They are high character guys—they are involved in the community. They both are well-spoken, well-educated, and come from great families. Really everything you want. And then I haven’t even mentioned their play yet,” said Booker on Bridges and Johnson’s return and their connection with the fan base.
The Sun’s all-star trio showed glimpses of what fans hope is to come, with the three accounting for 75 points.
Booker led the team with 34 points, 14 assists and six rebounds, while Beal added 14 points and four assists in his second game back.
Durant dropped 27 on 9-of-18 shooting as he returned to action after sitting out last week with an ankle injury.
Wednesday night was a game of catch up for the Suns who fell behind early and could not seem to outpace the balanced Nets attack.
“We were not good enough to win the game, but we’re going to stay positive. First game with those three guys out there together—a lot of figuring it out… when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive, dealing with minute restrictions, all those types of things and we’ll stay positive with it. But not enough during that stretch,” said head coach Frank Vogel about Wednesday’s loss.
Brooklyn came out hot, scoring 31 first-quarter points. A 22-5 run saw the Nets’ stretch their lead to as many as 15.
Trailing 64-56 coming out of the half, a Suns 10-3 run less than two minutes into the third paved the way for a back-and-forth second half.
Yusuf Nurkic (15 points) faced a tough matchup inside against Nic Claxton, who notched a season-high 22 rebounds.
Chemize Metu (8 points) in his second consecutive start knocked down two triples.
The Suns were without Eric Gordon (calf), Grayson Allen (groin) and Josh Okogie (hip). It definitely affected their outside shooting presence, with the team totaling 9-of-28 from outside.
After Phoenix finally whittled the Brooklyn lead down to one in the fourth quarter, Spencer Dinwiddie and Bridges hit back-to-back 3s giving the Nets a 105-98 lead with 6:07 remaining.
Dinwiddie and Bridges kept the pressure on late, hitting three straight shots to propel the Nets to a 114-106 lead with under two minutes to play.
In the closing seconds, a late defensive crawl back cut the lead back to two, but Cam Thomas knocked down two free throws to close out the game.
After the game, Durant commented about the gelling process with Booker and Beal.
“Basketball is unpredictable, man. Who knows? You cannot pinpoint or give you an exact time on when we get it clicking. Basketball is an unpredictable sport, and anything can happen. It can be tomorrow, or it could be two weeks from now. I know that we are going to come to work and try to figure it out the best that we can.”
Their next chance will come Friday, Dec. 15 when they host the New York Knicks at Footprint Center.
