Kevin Durant scored 13 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter and the Phoenix Suns recovered after squandering a lead to hold off the visiting Indiana Pacers 117-110 Sunday.
Phoenix, which won its fifth in a row, pounced on an Indiana team playing the last date of a six-game road swing and down its standout Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton missed five games due to a hamstring injury before returning to the lineup Friday but was a late scratch Sunday for maintenance.
The Suns built a 14-point lead midway through the first and kept the Pacers at arm’s length much of the night until an 11-0 Indiana run in the fourth.
Buddy Hield bookended the run with two of his 3-pointers on 5-of-8 shooting from the beyond arc. Hield led six Pacers scorers in double-figures with 18 points.
Phoenix answered Indiana’s surge with a game-closing 14-5 run, ignited when Durant made the last of his four made 3-pointers on a 4-of-7 performance from long range. He shot 18-of-25 from the floor overall, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots.
Bradley Beal highlighted the Suns’ decisive run with a trio of baskets, part of his 25-point effort. He scored six of Phoenix’s eight points in that one-minute, 16-second stretch.
Devin Booker added 26 points despite shooting 1-of-7 from 3-point range and dished a game-high eight assists.
Grayson Allen shot 3-of-4 from beyond the 3-point arc and chipped in 13 points for Phoenix, while Jusuf Nurkic grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam finished with 15 points and a team-high seven assists in his second game with Indiana since a trade from Toronto. Jalen Smith added 15 points off the bench, while fellow Pacers reserves Jarace Walker and Obi Toppin added 10 points and nine rebounds, and 13 points with six rebounds, respectively.
–Field Level Media
Comments