Booker's Nine Straight Points Bury the Rockets' Comeback as the Suns Win 102-99 in Phoenix
Houston erased a 19-point hole in the second quarter and tied the game at 93 late - then Devin Booker scored Phoenix's final nine points. Kevin Durant's tying three at the end did not fall, and the Rockets' second straight loss drops them to 7-3.
PHOENIX - The Houston Rockets spent Saturday night climbing out of a hole, and for four minutes at the end, the climb was finished. Then Devin Booker took the game over. Booker scored a game-high 24 points, including nine consecutive points late in the fourth quarter, as the Phoenix Suns held off Houston 102-99, Field Level Media reports - the Rockets' second consecutive loss, dropping them to 7-3.
Booker's run was the whole finish. He snapped a 93-93 tie with a 17-footer with 4:24 remaining, then added a step-back jumper, a 3-pointer and a driving layup that pushed Phoenix's lead to 102-95 with 2:30 to play. Houston still had one answer left: Kevin Durant, who led the Rockets with 21 points and 10 rebounds, cut it to 102-99 with a late jumper and got a look at a game-tying three with about 10 seconds remaining. It did not fall.
Durant's line tells the night's other story: 21 points on 5-of-14 shooting, 1-of-7 from three, against a Phoenix defense keyed on him all game. Amen Thompson added 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, Fred VanVleet scored 16, and Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun scored 15 apiece - Sengun carrying the middle with 11 of his 15 in the fourth quarter. As a team Houston shot just 38.7 percent and 10-of-35 from behind the arc. Jalen Green recorded 16 points and six assists for Phoenix, Miles Bridges posted 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Dillon Brooks scored 11.
The loss stings in the standings of a young rivalry: Phoenix had lost eight straight games to Houston before Saturday. The Rockets, who erased a 19-point first-half deficit just to reach that 93-93 tie, get no time to sit with it - Denver comes to Toyota Center on Monday, and a two-game slide is exactly the kind of small fire a 7-3 team either stamps out at home or watches spread.
