NBA: Devin Booker leads sharp-shooting Suns past Magic 117-104

PHOENIX, Arizona – NBA star Devin Booker had 30 points and a season-high record of four three-pointers, Dillon Brooks added 24 points and four threes, and the host Phoenix Suns beat the Orlando Magic 117-104 on Nov 5 to break a four-game losing streak.

Miles Bridges had 18 points and a season-high 13 rebounds for his second double-double and reserve Luke Kennard had a season-high 12 points for the Suns, who have split the first two games of a season-long seven-game homestand.

The Suns made 17 of 34 three-pointers, one make short of a season high. Bridges and Kennard had three and Collin Gillespie added two.

Wendell Carter Jr had 27 points and 13 rebounds, Franz Wagner had 15 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds for the Magic, who have lost three in a row.

The Suns took control with a 29-16 run to end the third quarter with a 96-73 lead that ballooned to 30 on Gillespie’s trey with nine minutes remaining in the fourth.

Brooks made two threes and Booker and Bridges had one apiece in the third quarter run. The Suns’ largest lead of the season had been 17, in a loss to Golden State on Nov 2.

Tristan Da Silva scored 18 points, Desmond Bane had 15 points, and Anthony Black added 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists after missing the previous game.

With Kennard and Ryan Dunn, who scored 11 points, leading the way, the Suns had 37 bench points.

The Suns altered their starting line-up for the first time this season when Oso Ighodaro opened at centre in place of Khaman Maluach. The Suns entered the game last in the league with a minus-6.80 rebound differential.

Orland had a 48-33 rebounding edge but committed 25 turnovers that led to 36 Suns’ points.

Booker had 12 points and two threes in the first quarter, when the Suns turned a six-point deficit into a 33-26 lead at the end of the period.

Kennard’s layup early in the second pushed the lead to 12, and Booker kept it there with his third three of the half in the final two seconds for a 63-51 edge.

The Suns had 16 assists on their first 19 baskets and finished with 30 assists.

The Magic, still without point guard Jalen Suggs, had 12 turnovers in the first half. Suggs missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injury. REUTERS