ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Basketball devider NBA: Here come the scorching-hot Phoenix Suns

NBA: Here come the scorching-hot Phoenix Suns

Published Aug 11, 2020 08:53 pm
Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns drives to the basket during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday at The Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. (AFP)

ORLANDO (AFP) — Devin Booker produced another 30-point scoring display as the Phoenix Suns made it six wins in a row since the NBA's restart with a blowout victory over Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

Booker scored 35 points with five rebounds and four assists in a 128-101 win that maintained Phoenix's improbable charge towards a place in the Western Conference play-in.

It was the fourth time in six games that Booker has scored more than 30 points in Orlando, where the Suns are a perfect 6-0 since the season resumed inside the NBA's bubble last month.

Booker's latest masterclass included an audacious three-pointer from near halfway late in the third period that extended the Suns' lead to 13 points, and underscored his status as the NBA's form player.

Booker's offensive effort was backed by double-digit scoring from five team-mates, with starters Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson scoring 18 points each and Dario Saric adding 16 points.

Cameron Payne had 14 points off the bench while Deandre Ayton added 10 points.

Oklahoma City's scoring was led by Darius Bazley with 22 points while Abdel Nader had 15 points.

The Suns (32-39) began the season restart as rank outsiders for a place in the playoffs from the Western Conference.

Monday's win lifted them above San Antonio into 10th place in the race for a place in next weekend's play-in tournament.

But even if the Suns win their two remaining seeding games — against Philadelphia on Tuesday and against Dallas on Thursday — they will need rivals Memphis, Portland and San Antonio to lose once in their final games to secure a berth in the play-in.

Suns coach Monty Williams warned afterwards that the team was still a long way from achieving its goal of a first appearance in the playoffs for a decade.

"We haven't accomplished anything," Williams said. "That may sound like coach speak, but we dug ourselves into a hole with our record this season. 

"We scrapped all year long and won some games. But it's been an uphill battle for us. We've done a good job of getting to this point and no-one knew we were going to be here. 

"But we haven't accomplished anything as far as the main goal is, of getting to the playoffs."

Elsewhere on Monday, the Dallas Mavericks overpowered the Utah Jazz 122-114 with Tim Hardaway Jr. scoring 27 points. Seth Curry added 22 points with Boban Marjanovic adding 20 for the Mavs, who were without the resting Luka Doncic.

Related Tags

Luka Doncic Oklahoma City Thunder Utah Jazz Phoenix Suns Devin Brooker nba Dallas Mavericks
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.