Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have been the key to the Suns’ fourth-quarter improvement

The duo is taking over the fourth quarter.

Through four games, the Phoenix Suns have won three of their four fourth quarters. In every game they have won the final frame, they’ve won the contest. I know it’s early, but the Valley is starting to play like a better, more organized team in the fourth.

Is the key just giving the ball to the team’s best players? The numbers show as such.

Kevin Durant leads the team’s fourth quarter, averaging 10.3 points in 10.2 minutes on 57 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent from three.

Devin Booker is also playing strong in the fourth quarter, averaging 7.5 points in 9.5 minutes on 50 percent shooting from the field and 55 percent from three.

They combine for 17.8 points per fourth quarter, Booker and Durant account for more than 60 percent of the team’s scoring in the final frame. Last season, they combined for 13.9 points per fourth quarter.

By keeping an approach that allows the team’s top stars to take over in the last 12 minutes, the Suns create less variability for themselves in the waning moments of contests. It’s safe, it’s reliable, and it’s logical to have your two best players control the game late. Last season, the team’s fourth quarters were often jumbled and inconsistent from one game to the next.

With Tyus Jones manning point guard duties for most of the game, less has been asked out of Booker and Durant through the ebb and flow of 48-minute battles, making it easier for them to take over late.

In a star-studded Western Conference, it’s not just important to not just have elite offensive ammunition to combat your opponents but also to be able to match a Luka Dončić, a James Harden, or an Anthony Davis when they are taking over a game late. After James Harden had an electric second half, Kevin Durant forced overtime with clutch buckets, helping the Suns come back from down double digits in the fourth quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers in the team’s first game.

Turnovers are still a problem, and Jusuf Nurkić has now proven on multiple occasions to be unplayable late in games, but by relying on Booker and Durant in the fourth gives the Suns a different approach from a season ago, and puts the outcome of the game in the team’s best players’ hands when it matters most.

If the duo’s strong play continues in the last frame, potentially the opportunity for Bradley Beal, Tyus Jones, and the rest of the crew on the court with them in the fourth will have a lot of open looks and be options for Booker and Durant when they are double-teamed or trapped.