Taking a Dive into Suns' Small-Ball Lineup

The Phoenix Suns are nearly halfway through possibly the most anticipated season since the franchise's inception in 1968.

That season has yielded mixed results through 40 games.

Phoenix currently sits at 22-18, but are looking to be building positive momentum- sitting at 7-3 in their last ten outings.

The most dramatic result of the recent stretch came in Tuesday night's victory against the Sacramento Kings - a game where Phoenix overcame a 22-point deficit in the final right minutes to emerge victorious.

The 32-8 run to close the game came behind the efforts of a five-out lineup that coach Frank Vogel installed, opting to utilize Kevin Durant at the 5- and that gamble paid off.

"I think the coaching staff made good adjustments - we were definitely dead in the water. They were scoring at will and it was kind of hard to figure out how we were going to get stops," Durant said following the win.

"I think coach made some good adjustments there with the lineups but also the scheme we were playing. We were able to excel in that and get a win."

The question that remains going forward is simple - how often should Vogel opt to play this lineup, and how long can the plan work for?

While the Suns simply can't make this lineup a primary one, the Booker-Beal-Allen-Gordon-Durant arrangement is potentially the group of the five true best players on the squad.

This is also the group of the five best shooters on the team, which spaces out opposing defenses even more than a traditional lineup built around the big three.

It also marks one of the few five-man lineups in which all five players can consistently put the ball on the court- the Kings aren't the best litmus test for this potent group of offensive players, but the seismic shift of power was clear once this change was made.

Kings head man Mike Brown commented on how overmatched Sacramento was in the closing minutes of the game, lamenting the ability of the coaching staff to adapt and Durant's performance late in the game.

“Tough way to lose. You got to give Frank Vogel and the entire Phoenix Suns team a lot of credit. The reality of it is they went small and we couldn’t score... We couldn’t score inside. KD (Kevin Durant) did a heck of a job," said Brown.

"We took some bad shots, I thought we drove into traffic two or three times and instead of playing the way the way we normally play, you drive the ball, you touch the paint and if help comes, play off of two and spray it... We had no pace in the halfcourt to end the game. We were holding the ball a lot and so their ability to play KD at the five and still matchup with us because we couldn’t score really slowed us down."

The Suns exploited some of the Kings' biggest deficiencies - one of the most talented teams in the NBA led by one of the best coaches in the league - struggled mightily in the closing stretch of the game due to the wrinkle Vogel opted to throw at them.

The potential secret weapon in this lineup is the ability for Durant to protect the rim, as this unlocks so many things this Suns team can do (in small doses at least).

Vogel and G Grayson Allen both praised Durant:

“It’s not just five three-point shooters, but five smalls and you go through one through five, although, KD (Kevin Durant) did a great job in a lot of possessions of guarding (Domantas) Sabonis in coverage and not switching, not passing him off to other guys. He’s had four exceptional defensive performances for us," said Vogel.

Allen went on to say:

"Defensively we have to be a little bit more active if they have a big who is a post-up threat. A lot of times Kev does a really good job of guarding fives in the post. He's able to push their catch out and uses his length to disrupt them. ... and he did a great job of keeping them in front and forcing them into tough shots. I think his versatility defensively makes that small lineup extremely tough to attack."

While none of the other four guards are necessarily elite defenders, all four play with a certain level of intensity and are athletic enough to be switchable on the perimeter.

While this brand of defense is unlikely to be sustainable for an extended period of time during games, this is a lineup that can be one of, if not the best conglomerations of talent in the entire NBA - and Durant is at the center of that.