Maven – Philadelphia Eagles Devin Booker scored 30 of his 46 points in the second half as the visiting Phoenix Suns rallied for their seventh straight win, beating the Dallas Mavericks 132-109 on Wednesday. Bradley Beal had 20 points, Grayson Allen scored 15 and Kevin Durant had 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Phoenix, which trailed by as many as 16 in the second quarter before outscoring the Mavericks 43-20 in the third. Booker scored 22 points in the decisive third quarter and finished shooting 17 of 23 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-point range for the game. Booker also had seven rebounds. Luka Doncic led Dallas with 34 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 17 points and Jaden Hardy added 11. Grant Williams scored eight points before being ejected midway through the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul. Phoenix avenged a 14-point home loss to the Mavericks on Christmas Day by shooting 60 percent from the field and 14 of 34 (41.2 percent) from 3-point range. Keita Bates-Diop chipped in 11 points for the Suns, who improved to 12-3 over their last 15 games. Dallas lost its third straight and played without second-leading scorer Kyrie Irving, who sat out due to a right thumb sprain.
The Mavericks opened the game by shooting 7 of 10 from 3-point range during a testy first quarter. Durant, Williams and the Suns’ Jusuf Nurkic were all given technical fouls following a brief dustup. The Mavericks took a 34-25 lead into the second and pushed it to 16 before a 17-4 Suns run cut the deficit to 58-57 at the half. Booker scored eight points during the stretch and had 16 for the half. The Suns took their first lead after scoring the first eight points of the third quarter. Booker was 9-of-11 shooting for the period and hit a 3-pointer to stretch the Suns’ lead to 89-68. Phoenix maintained a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter and rested their starters in the final minutes.
