Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant has defended his fiery exchange with coach Mike Buldenhozer after he dragged his team to victory against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

Cameras caught Durant and Buldenhozer going at one another during a timeout in the first quarter of their 119-117 win, which leaves the Suns 11th in the Western Conference on a 29-33 record.

Buldenhozer appeared to grab Durant's forearm, before the latter jerked it away before turning round to exchange more choice words. But after helping his team come back from a 23-point deficit, Durant was disappointed to see the interaction hit the headlines.

"That's what usually happens when you don't know dynamics of the relationship," he said after scoring 19 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter.

"You catch something on TV, you get a quote and now you pushing that narrative as if me and Bud don't do that **** all the time. We [are] competitive as two individuals who want to see things done the right way, and sometimes my way ain't the way that Bud want to do it and vice versa.

"He allows me as a player on the team, a veteran on the team, to voice my opinion. If we both didn't care, we would never have stuff like that, you know what I'm saying? So I'm glad that the win is going to sweep all of that stupid stuff under the rug. Because people couldn't wait.

"Even some people in Phoenix, in here, couldn't wait to run with that and say: 'This is the reason why the team ain't playing well, because of that specific thing.' But come on man, that shows that me and Bud really care about trying to right this ship and trying to win basketball games."

As Durant pointed out, the heated discussion is one of many that him and Buldenhozer have had during the season, with the former suggesting there will likely be many more.

"We're like old friends or whatever where we're always probably grabbing and talking to each other," Budenholzer said. "I thought actually his energy and his voice tonight was great. I think there was some kind of offensive play.

"He wanted something, I wanted something [else] and it's the beauty of basketball. But really from that moment, his voice and him talking – feedback, ideas, suggestions – was really I think a big part of the night."

SUNS WIN! pic.twitter.com/LHD7hy9DT5
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) March 5, 2025

That the Suns managed to turn round the 23-point deficit, having also been trailing by 19 at the start of the fourth quarter – pulling off the largest fourth-quarter comeback in franchise history – was put down to Buldenhozer's decision to bring Collin Gillespie in according to Durant.

"Coach made a great adjustment throwing him in there," Durant said. "Coach was just perfect, to be honest. Every adjustment he made was incredible. He was catalyst for all of it," said Durant.

Durant also acted as cheerleader on the court, attempting to get a crowd that had been booing the team earlier going by waving his hands during a Clippers timeout.

"I mean, just looking around after we were down 20, it looked like they were having a terrible time, and I hate putting that type of product on the court," Durant said.

"I know we should focus on the game and focus on the game plan and not look into the crowd and not engage with the crowd, keep it professional. All that **** they tell us. But I survey the crowd and see, because we need them, we need that energy.

"So I looked around and it just looked dead and only way to spark it up is to make some plays. See the ball go through the rim, and we did."