Phoenix Suns continue fine form to beat Detroit Pistons 135-108; Cade Cunningham ejected for pointing at opponent in defeat; Utah Jazz oust Denver Nuggets while Golden State Warriors, hampered by injuries, fall to Minnesota Timberwolves
Monday 17 January 2022 07:40, UK
Devin Booker shone as the Phoenix Suns thrashed the Detroit Pistons, who had Cade Cunningham ejected, while the Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of Golden State Warriors' injuries to win. Round-up of Sunday night's NBA action...
Devin Booker scored 30 points in 30 minutes, and the visiting Phoenix Suns rolled past the Detroit Pistons 135-108 on Sunday afternoon.
Booker made 11 of 18 field-goal attempts and sat out the fourth quarter. Cameron Payne had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, and fellow reserve JaVale McGee supplied 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds.
Phoenix's Landry Shamet added 11 points, and Chris Paul had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. Mikal Bridges also scored 10 points for the Suns, who own the league's best record and have won six of their past seven games.
Detroit's Cade Cunningham, the top pick in the 2021 draft, was ejected after being assessed two technicals during the third quarter. The second technical came after he pointed toward a Suns player after dunking, which the officials interpreted as taunting. Cunningham scored 21 points in 25 minutes.
Donovan Mitchell scored 31 points, Rudy Gobert returned to action with 18 points and 19 rebounds, and the visiting Utah Jazz beat the Denver Nuggets 125-102 on Sunday night.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21 points, Jordan Clarkson had 16, Royce O'Neale finished with 11 and Eric Paschall scored 10 for Utah.
Gobert missed the last five games while in health and safety protocol and the Jazz struggled without him. Utah lost four straight and earned its first victory since winning at Denver on Jan. 5.
Nikola Jokic had 25 points, 15 rebounds and 14 assists for the Nuggets. Aaron Gordon scored 20 points, Will Barton finished with 16 and Bones Hyland and Monte Morris scored 13 each.
Karl-Anthony Towns put up a 26-point, 11-rebound double-double, and the host Minnesota Timberwolves took advantage of the absence of Golden State Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to post a 119-99 victory Sunday night in Minneapolis.
Jaylen Nowell (17 points) and Malik Beasley (16) combined for eight 3-pointers off the bench, helping the Timberwolves win for the fifth time in their past seven games.
The Warriors, who were without Green (strained lower back/calf) for all four games of their 1-3 trip, sent Curry home a night early with right-hand soreness he experienced in Friday's win at Chicago.
Jordan Poole had 20 points Sunday to pace Golden State, which hopes to get Curry back when it opens a seven-game homestand Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons. Green already has been ruled out for at least the rest of the month.
In losing for the fifth time in their past seven outings, the undermanned Warriors hung with the host team for the better part of three quarters, then went up 80-79 on an Otto Porter Jr. 3-pointer with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter.
But the Timberwolves, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Beasley, closed the period on a 12-1 run to take a 91-81 lead, then got two more threes from Beasley and one from Jaden McDaniels in a 20-3 burst that opened the final quarter and blew the game open.
Christian Wood posted his 20th double-double of the season and Eric Gordon converted a teammate's timely offensive rebound into a basket in the waning moments as the Houston Rockets beat the host Sacramento Kings 118-112 on Sunday night.
Wood had 23 points and 14 rebounds while Kevin Porter Jr. added 23 points and seven assists to help the Rockets hold on. Houston survived when Jalen Green snagged an offensive rebound after Porter had missed a 3-pointer and Gordon followed with a driving layup with 12.5 seconds left for a 116-112 lead.
Green and Gordon scored 15 points apiece for the Rockets while Garrison Mathews added 17 off the bench, drawing a flagrant-2 foul on Kings guard De'Aaron Fox that led to his ejection with 8:14 left to play. Fox finished with 14 points and four assists for the Kings.
