Devin Booker scored 27 points, Chris Paul added 18 and the Phoenix Suns rolled to a 122-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night in Phoenix.
The Suns have won six of their past seven games and bounced back emphatically from a 122-111 loss to Indiana on Saturday. They won the season series against the Grizzlies two games to one.
Booker shot 10 of 19 from the field and topped his season average of 25 points per game despite sitting out the fourth quarter. Deandre Ayton added 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks, while Jae Crowder scored 14.
Paul shot 9 of 11 from the field and had seven assists.
The game was tight for most of the first half but the Suns slowly pulled away in the third period. Crowder rattled home a 3-pointer with a few seconds left to give Phoenix a 96-77 advantage going into the fourth.
Memphis could never close the gap and fell to 17-19 this season. Jonas Valanciunas led the Grizzlies with 24 points and 17 rebounds. Grayson Allen added 15 points off the bench, and Ja Morant also scored 15.
Former MU forward Jontay Porter made his NBA debut. He played 3 minutes and had 3 rebounds.
The Grizzlies have lost three straight and four of five.
The Suns scored 36 points in the second quarter to take a 60-52 halftime lead. Booker had 16 points before the break. Valanciunas led the Grizzlies with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Nuggets 121, Pacers 106: Nikola Jokic notched his 35th double-double with 32 points and 14 rebounds, leading the Denver Nuggets over the travel-weary Indiana Pacers in Denver.
Former MU forward Michael Porter Jr. and Will Barton each scored 20 points for the Nuggets, who used a big fourth quarter to get the win.
Malcom Brogdon led Indiana with 24 and Justin Holiday had 19. Domantas Sabonis finished a rebound shy of a triple-double with 10 points and 10 assists.
The start of the game was moved back an hour because the Pacers were unable to fly from Phoenix into Denver until Monday afternoon. A snowstorm that officially dropped 27 inches at Denver International Airport closed the runways from late Sunday morning. Four runways were reopened mid-afternoon Monday.
Indiana rallied from 20 down in the first half to take a 79-74 lead midway through the third quarter. The Pacers led 91-87 after three, but the Nuggets opened the fourth with 14 straight points to take a 101-91 lead.
The Pacers didn’t score their first points until nearly five minutes into the fourth and were outscored 34-15.
Hornets 122, Kings 116: Terry Rozier scored 26 points, Gordon Hayward added 25 and the Charlotte Hornets overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat the Sacramento Kings in Charlotte, North Carolina, for their fourth straight win.
De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 29 points, while Richaun Holmes had 17 points and 15 rebounds.
The Hornets (20-18) trailed the entire way until Hayward came up with the play of the game with 1:33 left.
Hayward forced a steal, took a lookahead pass from Rozier and delivered a powerful two-hand dunk over Fox, bringing the pandemic-restricted crowd of about 3,000 to its feet. He was fouled on the play and made the free throw to give Charlotte its first lead at 113-111.
Hield quickly tied the game at the other end, but Rozier answered with a huge 3-pointer from the left wing to put the Hornets ahead for good with 54 seconds left.
Down three, the Kings (15-24) fouled Bismack Biyombo and he missed both free throws. But the reserve center quickly redeemed himself at the other end of the court by blocking Fox on a drive to the basket with 34 seconds left.
Rozier and Gordon iced the game with each making two free throws.
Bucks 133, Wizards 122: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his third consecutive triple-double to lead the Milwaukee Bucks past the Washington Wizards 133-122 in Washington for their fourth consecutive victory.
The Bucks pulled away late after letting a 26-point third-quarter lead slip to five midway through the fourth. When the Wizards got within seven in the final minutes, Antetokounmpo scored the next four points to make it a double-digit game again.
Antetokounmpo combined for 64 points, 26 rebounds and 21 assists in the two-game series at Washington that Milwaukee swept. He also had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the first triple-double of this run against the New York Knicks last week.
Antetokounmpo became the third player this season with a triple-double in three games in a row, joining Washington’s Russell Westbrook, who did it twice, and Miami’s Jimmy Butler. His seventh career 30-point triple-double passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in team history, and he’s the first Bucks player to have three triple-doubles in a row.
The Bucks kept pace with Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia and are now two games back with Brooklyn in between.
Bradley Beal led the Wizards with 37 points after sitting out Saturday to rest a sore left knee. Russell Westbrook had 23 points and a season-high 17 assists. Washington has lost four in a row.
Spurs 109, Pistons 99: Dejounte Murray had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead a balanced attack as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons in Detroit.
Detroit’s leading scorer, Jeremi Grant, left the game in the third quarter after falling hard on his hip while trying to drive between Drew Eubanks and Rudy Gay.
Jakob Poeltl had 14 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio, which had six players in double figures. The Spurs had lost three of four, including a 35-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
Josh Jackson had 15 points for the Pistons, who have lost four straight, while Grant scored 14.
The Spurs shot 58.7% in the first half to build a 60-50 lead, then pulled away by as many as 14 early in the third quarter. Dejounte Murray finished off a 35-point quarter for the Spurs with a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving San Antonio a 95-75 lead.
Nets 117, Knicks 112: Kyrie Irving scored 34 points, James Harden welcomed himself to New York’s basketball rivalry with his 10th triple-double of the season, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Knicks in New York.
Harden finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists in his first game against the Knicks since arriving in Brooklyn two months ago and turning the Nets into one of the NBA’s best teams.
The Nets agreed to the deal that brought Harden to Brooklyn on Jan. 13, playing short-handed that night at Madison Square Garden in a 116-109 victory over the Knicks. That made them just 7-6, but they are 20-7 since Harden’s arrival, including 19-4 when at least two of their three superstars play.
Jeff Green scored 20 points as the Nets won for the 13th time in 14 games, even with Kevin Durant sitting out the last 12 of them with a strained left hamstring.
Julius Randle had 33 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for the Knicks, who are in a tough stretch with Milwaukee, Brooklyn and Philadelphia, the top three teams in the Eastern Conference, in their first four games after the All-Star break.
The Nets led by 18 late in the third quarter, but the Knicks had it down to 115-112 after a dunk by Randle and then got the ball back when coach Tom Thibodeau successfully challenged a foul called on RJ Barrett with 7.7 seconds remaining. The Knicks won the ensuing jump ball but Randle was called for traveling and Harden closed it out with two free throws.
A furious Randle tried to approach the officials after the buzzer and a number of Knicks had to get off the bench to hold the All-Star forward back.
The Nets made 70% of their shots and led by five after one quarter, then opened the second with a 14-2 spurt to take a 49-32 lead. Brooklyn had an 18-point lead with under 2 minutes remaining in the half, but New York cut it to 67-55 at the break.
Barrett scored 23 points and rookie Immanuel Quickley had 21 in his first career start for the Knicks.
Cippers 109, Mavericks 99: Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points, Marcus Morris Sr. added 14 in a rare start and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas.
The Clippers answered a 51-point loss to Dallas early in the season and a 20-point defeat in New Orleans the night before while remaining the NBA’s only unbeaten team on the second night of back-to-backs. Los Angeles improved to 7-0 and tied Phoenix (7-1) for the most such victories.
The second meeting — and first of two consecutive games in Dallas — since the Clippers beat the Mavericks in six games in a first-round series in the playoff bubble was a victory for LA’s depth over the Mavericks’ star power. The Clippers won for the second time in six games while Dallas lost for just the second time in its past seven.
Luka Doncic had 25 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds for Dallas, and Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points.
Paul George scored 15 as seven Clippers finished in double figures. Ivica Zubac had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Nicolas Batum, who sat while Morris made his third start of the season, had a couple of big 3-pointers and scored 14. Reggie Jackson and Patrick Patterson scored 12 apiece.
The Clippers built leads early in both halves with better defense than they displayed a night earlier against the Pelicans, who shot the highest percentage in the NBA this season at 65.4%.
The Mavericks erased a 14-point first-quarter deficit in the second quarter. But they trailed 55-50 at halftime after leading by a NBA-record 50 points (77-27) at the half in their 124-73 victory in LA in December.
Dallas couldn’t do it again after falling behind by 12 early in the fourth. The Mavericks trailed 103-99 with three minutes remaining but couldn’t convert on two chances to get closer before Leonard got a three-point play off a putback.
In the final seconds of the third quarter, Doncic pleaded with officials to give him a shot at a four-point play when the 3-pointer he threw up while he was fouled on purpose went in. Officials said there was no shot.
After a discussion during a Dallas timeout, there was no challenge. The Mavericks had a throw-in, and Doncic hit two free throws after getting fouled again on a drive for an 85-78 deficit going to the fourth quarter.
Lakers 128, Warriors 97: LeBron James had a triple-double with 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, leading the injury-depleted Los Angeles Lakers past the Golden State Warriors in San Fransisco.
Montrezl Harrell backed up James’ fourth triple-double of the season by scoring 27 points off the bench on 11-of-14 shooting as the Lakers won the season series with Golden State.
Stephen Curry scored 27 points with four 3-pointers and became the Warriors’ franchise assists leader a day after his 33rd birthday and in his 12th NBA season.
With a long list of injuries, the Lakers got another scare when Harrell briefly went down with 7:11 left in the first half. He took an elbow to the face from Warriors rookie center James Wiseman after his goaltend as he attempted to block a shot and had his elbows high. After a replay review to determine if it was “a hostile act,” Wiseman received a technical foul, not a flagrant.
Harrell walked off the court on his own.
Golden State had its home winning streak snapped at four — a day after the Warriors ended a season-worst four-game skid by beating the Jazz 131-119.
But this was another tough beating at the hands of James and Co. after Golden State’s 117-91 defeat in Los Angeles on Feb. 28.
The Lakers had lost their previous two road games, both against Western Conference teams.
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