Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Devin Booker drilled the game-winning three-pointer in the final second as the Phoenix Suns rallied to silence the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder 108-105 on Sunday. The Suns erased an early 18-point deficit to avenge the worst defeat in franchise history — a 138-89 loss to the league-leading Thunder in the NBA Cup quarter-finals last month. Booker scored 24 points and handed out nine assists, and Dillon Brooks added 22 for Phoenix — which had a career-high 26 points off the bench from Jordan Goodwin.
Brooks drained a three-pointer over Canada teammate and Oklahoma City’s reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, with 36 seconds remaining. That gave Phoenix a 105-101 lead, but Oklahoma City tied it at 105-105 with 8.2 seconds left before Booker connected. Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 25 points, and Jalen Williams added 23, but the Suns snapped Oklahoma City’s four-game winning streak. The Thunder’s 30-6 record remains the best in the league, while Detroit boosted their Eastern Conference lead with a 114-110 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers that moved the Pistons to 26-9.
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Cade Cunningham scored 27 points and reserve Daniss Jenkins added 25 — including 21 in a dazzling second quarter for Detroit. Star guard Cunningham added six rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and a blocked shot as the Pistons shrugged off the injury absences of key contributors Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren, and Caris LeVert. But Jenkins stole the show with his monster second quarter in which he made all seven of his shots, including six three-pointers. “My teammates were just finding me and I was open,” said Jenkins, who is playing on a two-way contract. “I was given space, and the key to the game was (if) you’ve got an open shot, you’ve got to shoot.”
The Cavaliers, led by 30 points from Donovan Mitchell, whittled a 13-point deficit to two with 1:16 remaining and were within two again with 3.8 seconds left, but Jenkins made two free throws to seal it. The Cavaliers, touted at the start of the season as contenders in the East, finished the day eighth in the standings after being overtaken by the Miami Heat, who beat the New Orleans Pelicans 125-106. The Los Angeles Lakers closed the weekend with a 120-114 clutch home win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Luka Doncic scored 36 points with nine rebounds and eight assists. LeBron James and Jake LaRavia added 26 points each for the Lakers, who erased a 16-point deficit and finally pulled away late in a game in which the Grizzlies led by one point with 5:29 remaining.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Pacers matched a franchise record for futility with their 12th straight defeat, falling 135-127 to the Magic in Orlando. The Pacers have been a shadow of the team that fell in last season’s NBA Finals, with a string of players hit by injuries since star Tyrese Haliburton suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the championship series. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam led all scorers with 34 points, but the Magic — led by 31 points from Desmond Bane — seized control with a 17-0 run in the second quarter and held on in the face of a late Pacers surge.
The Brooklyn Nets took advantage of Denver star Nikola Jokic’s absence to beat the Nuggets 127-115. In their third game since Jokic’s injury, the Nuggets fell despite the return of Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon from long injury absences. Jamal Murray led Denver with 27 points and set a career high with 16 assists. Braun finished with three points in 24 minutes while Gordon had 20 points in 21 minutes. But without three-time Most Valuable Player Jokic, it wasn’t enough, thanks largely to the efforts of former Nugget Michael Porter Jr., who scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his first meeting with the Nuggets since he was traded in July.
© 2024 AFP
