{"id":520098,"date":"2026-01-06T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/520098\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:00:13","slug":"durant-says-game-winner-over-suns-meant-more-because-he-was-kicked-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/520098\/","title":{"rendered":"Durant says game-winner over Suns meant more because he was \u2018kicked out\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON (AP\/AZFamily) \u2014 Houston\u2019s Kevin Durant said hitting the game-winning shot Monday night against the Phoenix Suns meant more because it came against his former team that he felt kicked him out.<\/p>\n

Durant scored 26 points and his 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds to go lifted the Rockets to the 100-97 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Asked if it meant more because it came against the Suns, the 15-time All-Star didn\u2019t hold back.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost definitely,\u201d he said. \u201cA place that I didn\u2019t want to leave. My first time \u2014 I don\u2019t want to sound too dramatic, but I will \u2014 to be kicked out of a place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Rockets’ Kevin Durant, left, is defended by Phoenix Suns’ Royce O’Neale (00) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)(David J. Phillip | AP)<\/p>\n

The game was tied when Durant drained the 27-footer to give the Rockets the victory. Durant joined the Rockets from Phoenix this summer in a blockbuster trade that sent Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green to the Suns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good to play against a team that booted you out of the building and scapegoated you for all the problems they had,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it hurt because I put all my effort and love and care towards the Suns and the Phoenix area and Arizona in general. But that\u2019s just the business, that\u2019s the name of the game. So, when you play against a (former) team, yeah you got a chip on your shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Durant spent 2 \u00bd seasons with the Suns after a trade from the Nets in Feb. 2023. He was an All-Star in both of his full seasons in Phoenix, but the team failed to meet expectations, losing in the first round of the postseason in the 2023-24 season and failing to reach the playoffs last season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing but love for the players, but I want to beat that team,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to show them that I still got some juice in the tank. Even though I\u2019m old, I still can play. I feel like every player has that mentality playing against their former team. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s malicious in any way towards them. But just as a competitor, you want to go out there and beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Durant said he hopes these feelings won\u2019t linger too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I get home tonight, I probably won\u2019t even remember it,\u201d he said. \u201cWell, I will remember it, but I\u2019ll try my best to forget about it and move on to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP\/AZFamily) \u2014 Houston\u2019s Kevin Durant said hitting the game-winning shot Monday night against the Phoenix Suns meant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[24512,46704,7,72075,292,194,4066,938,6,3101,472,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-520098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-arizona-sports","9":"tag-azfamily-news","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-durant-suns","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-rockets","14":"tag-houstonrockets","15":"tag-kevin-durant","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-nba-news","18":"tag-phoenix-suns","19":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115848047867336399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}