Kevin Durant”s Foul On Markkanen In Double OT Got Overturned

Sunday’s game between the Suns and Jazz in Salt Lake City wasn’t expected by many to be the craziest game of the early season, but the two teams ended up producing a wild double overtime thriller that ended at the review monitor.

Kevin Durant (39 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds) and Lauri Markkanen (38 points and 17 rebounds) put on quite the show for their respective teams as they went back-and-forth all night, and fittingly, they were the two battling on the final play that got sent to review by a Suns challenge. After a pair of Devin Booker free throws made it a three-point game with 0.9 seconds left, the Jazz advanced the ball and setup a similar play to what the Thunder ran to force OT the other night against the Warriors, but with Markkanen in the Chet Holmgren role.

In live action, Durant’s contest of Markkanen’s spinning three got ruled a foul, sending Lauri to the line for three free throws to potentially force triple overtime. However, upon review it was determined Durant got ball first before any contact on the wrist, making it a clean block and ending the game at 140-137 in the Suns favor.

Prior to that, the end of both regulation and the first overtime were also ridiculous, as Markkanen forced overtime with a layup after Durant blocked a Jordan Clarkson three that somehow bounced right to Lauri.

In overtime, it looked like Durant hit the dagger with a three over Keyonte George with just over 30 seconds left to put the Suns up five.

Instead, the Jazz rallied to get two trips to the line with a missed Suns three in between, and then Eric Gordon missed the front end of his free throws late to allow Utah to tie the game with a two-pointer, which Collin Sexton did on a putback at the buzzer.

All of that was in vain from the Jazz, but it was an impressive fight from Utah, with the Suns showing some resilience as well to stay the course and, eventually, by the tip of Durant’s finger, come away with the win.