NBA: Devin Booker scores 49 as Suns clinch top seed

Devin Booker scored a season-high 49 points and added 10 assists, Chris Paul had 17 points and 13 assists in his return to the lineup, and the visiting Phoenix Suns beat the Denver Nuggets, 140-130, on Thursday night to clinch the top seed in the Western Conference.

Mikal Bridges scored 22 points, Deandre Ayton had 16 points and Jae Crowder finished with 12 for the Suns (60-14), who have won seven straight.

Paul missed 15 games with a fractured thumb and hadn't played for the Suns since prior to the All-Star break. He did log two minutes in the All-Star Game.

Nikola Jokic led Denver (43-31) with 28 points, Bones Hyland scored 23, Aaron Gordon had 21, Will Barton had 17, Monte Morris scored 15, Jeff Green added 11 and DeMarcus Cousins had 10.

The teams traded leads in a high-scoring first half, with Phoenix leading by five and the Nuggets up by seven at one point.

Hyland did most of the damage for Denver. He scored 19 points off the bench, including 4-for-6 from behind the arc, to help give the Nuggets a 68-66 lead at halftime.

Things stayed close for the first few minutes of the third quarter before Denver created some distance. Barton and Morris hit 3-pointers, and Morris was fouled on his jumper and made the free throw for a four-point play and an 85-78 lead.

The Suns got within 89-86, but the Nuggets stretched the lead to 101-92 late in the period. Phoenix came back behind Booker, who scored 10 points in the final 2:52 to cut the deficit to 106-104 heading into the fourth.

Phoenix took the lead when Bridges' 3-pointer made it 110-109, then the Suns started to pull away. Bridges hit a pair of free throws, Booker made a jumper in the lane and Bridges hit another 3-pointer to make it 122-114.

Denver got within 124-120 on a three-point play by Gordon with 3:55 left, but Phoenix closed it out.

-reuters

NBA: Devin Booker pours in 43 as streaking Suns top Jazz

Devin Booker scored 43 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns increased their winning streak to eight with a 105-97 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

Booker scored 21 points in the first quarter, helping the Suns take an early 21-point lead, and then took turns with teammate Chris Paul hitting clutch jumpers down the stretch to thwart Utah's comeback attempt. Paul finished with 21 points.

Utah absorbed its second loss to Phoenix in three nights and fell for the ninth time in 11 games overall.

Both teams played with irregular lineups.

The Jazz were missing their top two players, as Donovan Mitchell was sidelined due to the concussion protocol for the fifth game in a row and Rudy Gobert missed his second game in a row with a calf injury.

The Suns played without JaVale McGee (knee), Deandre Ayton (ankle) and Jae Crowder (wrist).

Jordan Clarkson picked up some of the scoring slack for the Jazz, putting up 26 points and sinking six 3-pointers. Mike Conley contributed 16 points and 10 assists, while fill-in starting center Hassan Whiteside chipped in 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The game was a roller coaster ride, as Phoenix jumped out to a 39-18 lead after the first quarter but was then outscored 30-11 in the second quarter. The Jazz finished the opening half with eight straight points to trim the deficit to 50-48.

The Suns shot 5-for-17 from the floor and 0-for-3 from beyond the arc in the second period.

The Jazz reverted to the first-quarter version of themselves in the third quarter, scoring just 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting while committing five turnovers.

The fourth quarter was the most competitive of the game.

Clarkson scored nine straight Jazz points to help Utah pull within 82-78 with 7:32 to go. The Suns responded and rebuilt their lead to 10, but Utah wasn't done.

Conley hit a floater and two free throws and then Clarkson made a layup and two foul shots to trim Phoenix's lead to 92-90 with 3:32 to play. 

Booker and Paul subsequently added clutch hoops, Booker added four more points and Bismack Biyombo sank two free throws with 49.5 seconds remaining to boost the margin to 104-94.

-reuters

NBA: Sweet 16: Suns' hot streak continues with win over Nets

Devin Booker scored 30 points as the Phoenix Suns never trailed, survived a late comeback attempt by the Brooklyn Nets and pushed their winning streak to 16 games with a 113-107 victory Saturday night.

The Suns are on their second-longest winning streak in team history. Phoenix can match the 2006-07 team for the longest winning streak in franchise lore by beating the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

Booker shot 9 of 18 from the field and hit four 3-pointers. He did most of his scoring in the first and third quarters.

Chris Paul added 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Paul shot 9 of 19 and notched his 5,000th career rebound in the second.

Mikal Bridges added 13 while Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee contributed 10 apiece as Phoenix shot 44.6 percent.

Kevin Durant led all scorers with 39 points, but Brooklyn saw its four-game winning streak stopped.

LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre' Bembry contributed 18 apiece for Brooklyn, which shot 50 percent but also committed 20 turnovers. James Harden finished with a triple-double of 12 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds despite shooting 4 of 15.

Booker scored 16 when the Suns sped out to a 21-8 lead midway through the first quarter and held a 14-point lead after the opening 12 minutes. He added 10 more in the third when the Nets got within seven early in the quarter and helped the Suns take a 90-72 lead into the fourth.

Brooklyn made one last charge, getting within 108-101 on Harden's layup that gave him the triple-double with 2:31 remaining. 

Durant's layup made it 110-103 with 45 seconds left and Harden's layup made it 111-105 with 32 seconds remaining, but Booker finished by hitting two free throws with 19 ticks left.

-reuters-