Devin Booker scored 34 points on 12-of-17 shooting as the Phoenix Suns rolled to a 132-100 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.
Deandre Ayton added 19 points as Phoenix notched its 12th victory in the past 14 games. The Suns turned the game into a blowout by outscoring the Trail Blazers 37-17 in the third quarter.
Damian Lillard recorded 24 points and seven assists as Portland dropped its second straight contest following a season-best, six-game winning streak.
Nassir Little scored 18 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 11 and Carmelo Anthony added 10 for the Trail Blazers.
Enes Kanter collected 15 rebounds for Portland, which shot 44 percent from the field, including 12 of 39 from behind the arc.
Dario Saric registered 14 points and nine rebounds and Cameron Johnson contributed 13 points for the Suns. Mikal Bridges added 10 points for Phoenix, which shot 50.5 percent from the field and was 16 of 33 from 3-point range.
Chris Paul had nine assists for the Suns but tallied just two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Phoenix led 63-54 at halftime and it again led by nine five minutes into the third quarter before breaking the game open by scoring 26 of the stanza’s final 32 points.
Bridges started a 12-0 burst with a 3-pointer and Ayton scored seven points during the run as the Suns opened up an 86-65 lead with 3:18 remaining.
Cameron Payne’s 3-pointer pushed the Phoenix advantage to 91-69 with 1:30 left. The Suns later scored the final eight points of the quarter — five by Booker plus a quarter-ending 3-pointer by Johnson — to make it 100-71 entering the final stanza.
All of the Phoenix starters sat out the fourth quarter with the Suns comfortably ahead. The lead topped out at 37 points.
Booker scored 22 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting to help Phoenix hold the nine-point lead at the break. Lillard had 16 for the Trail Blazers.
Booker tallied 17 points in the opening quarter as the Suns built a 32-26 advantage. Rodney Hood scored seven straight points at the outset of the second quarter to give Portland its first lead, but Phoenix led for the final seven-plus minutes and Booker capped his big half with a jumper as time expired.
–Field Level Media
