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Devin Booker Propels Suns to 110-89 Victory over Grizzlies without Kevin Durant

© Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Devin Booker scored a season-high 40 points, as the Phoenix Suns won their sixth straight game by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies 110-89. The Suns improved to 10-6 on the year, while the Grizzlies dropped their third-straight game and fell to 3-12.

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Kevin Durant was a late scratch with right foot soreness, as Phoenix played its final NBA In-Season Tournament group play game, needing a win by a decent margin to boost their chances of getting a Wild Card spot in Vegas.

They got just that and now have a point differential of +34 and finish group play with a 3-1 record. Another team that does not win their group will have to have both a 3-1 record and better than this point differential to get the last spot over the Suns.

Booker, who also finished with four steals, went off all night and sparked a 14-0 run to end the first half, which the Suns rode the momentum of in the second. The Grizzlies did cut the lead to six in the third when Booker was not on the floor, but the Suns kept pushing all night and allowed only 40 second-half points.

Jordan Goodwin was the one that really put the game away for Phoenix, as he scored 10-straight points in the fourth quarter. Jusuf Nurkić led the Suns in rebounds (10), assists (6) and blocks (2). Eric Gordon had 20 points, including four three-pointers.

Memphis’ 89 total points wre the fewest the Suns have allowed this season by far.

The full team stats aren’t that jarring, but for the second-straight game, the Suns attacked the paint and shot 28 free throws compared to only 10 by the Grizzlies. They held Memphis to 9-for-33 (27.3%) shooting from deep. Desmond Bane, the Grizzlies’ leading scorer on the year, had only six points and shot 0-for-5 from three. Santi Aldama led Memphis with 21 points.

Phoenix was also missing Drew Eubanks (left ankle sprain) after he went down with the injury during Wednesday’s victory over the Warriors and did not return. Bradley Beal (low back strain), Yuta Watanabe (left quad contusion) and Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) remained out for the Suns.

The Grizzlies had seven players out: Ja Morant (league suspension), Steven Adams (right knee MCL surgery), Marcus Smart (left foot sprain), Brandon Clarke (left achilles tendon repair), Luke Kennard (left knee bone bruise), Xavier Tillman (left knee injury recovery) and Jake LaRavia (left eye abrasion).

In a battle of two banged-up teams, here’s how the action unfolded:

Starters

Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, Eric Gordon, Grayson Allen, Keita Bates-Diop, Jusuf Nurkić

Memphis Grizzlies: Jacob Gilyard, Desmond Bane, Santi Aldama, Jaren Jackson Jr., Bismack Biyombo

First Quarter

In Durant’s absence, Booker took the first four shots for the Suns, connecting on only one.

The Grizzlies opened up a 6-2 lead with 9:46 left in the quarter.

Booker responded to this early deficity with a layup, and then Jaren Jackson Jr. extended the lead to five with a triple.

Without Durant, you would expect the suns offense to struggle, but it was their defense that was giving up a lot of open shots early. The Grizzlies led 13-8 with 6:52 to go in the quarter, as Booker subbed out, keeping up his same rotation pattern even without Durant.

The Suns did not falter without Booker, as Eric Gordon cashed a three and then Josh Okogie had a nasty posterizing dunk.

Eventually, a Gordon layup tied the game at 15 with 4:47 remaining in the quarter.

The Suns called a timeout at the 2:57 mark after a dunk by former Sun Bismack Biyombo, as they trailed 22-19. Booker checked back in with a really small lineup out of the break.

Jordan Goodwin, Booker, Okogie, Nassir Little and Chimezie Metu were all in at this point and closed out the quarter for Phoenix.

The Suns took their first lead of the game with 2:09 left, as Booker got a nice steal and layup in transition to make it 24-23 Phoenix. The game then went back and forth the rest of the quarter.

The Suns led 29-27 at the end of the first quarter.

Booker ended the quarter with a game-high nine points. Gordon (7 points) and Okogie (5 points, +7) were also big for Phoenix. Jusuf Nurkić had five rebounds in the quarter.

Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis with six points and five boards.

Second Quarter

Vince Williams gave the Grizzlies the lead back right away with a triple to start the second quarter.

The Suns continue to attack the paint against a Memphis zone defense, drawing a lot of fouls and connecting on easy shots. They opened an 7-0 run after this first Memphis bucket, as Booker had three of these points, while Grayson Allen had the remaining four. The Suns led 36-30 with 10:44 left in the half.

Phoenix continued to be aggressive offensively, and the Grizzlies continued to foul. Memphis had six team fouls with 8:12 remaining. Booker was subbed back out at this point with the Suns leading 38-34.

Phoenix did not stop driving and drawing fouls and was up 43-38 with 7:12 to go with eight of their 14 second-quarter points coming from the line.

The Grizzlies went on a 6-0 spurt to re-take the lead with 6:02 left in the half after a David Roddy and-one layup made it 44-43 Memphis.

Booker checked back in with 4:05 remaining with the Suns trailing 48-49.

Great ball movement and pressure defense kicked off a perfect end of the half for Phoenix.

The Suns had a 14-0 run after Booker checked back in to close the half. Booker had six of these points, all on pull-up jumpers.

Phoenix led 62-49 at the half.

The Suns shot 17 free throws in the first half, and Eric Gordon was the main beneficiary of the quick ball movement, as he had 15 points and three triples.

Booker led the Suns with 18 points, while the Suns shut Desmond Bane down, as he shot 0-for-4 from deep.

Third Quarter

The Grizzlies ended the Suns’ run with a putback layup by Aldama to start the second quarter.

However, Booker and the Suns kept their foot on the gas. Booker had another pull-up jumper and then Grayson Allen cashed a three, and Phoenix was up 67-53 with 10:48 remaining in the half.

Some sloppy play by both teams led a scoring drought for nearly three minutes from 9:55-7:15.

Booker ended this with two free throws to make it 70-55 Suns.

Booker later extended the Suns lead to 75-57 with a beautiful triple over Biyombo.

Aldama responded with five unanswered points for the Grizzlies, and Phoenix called a timeout with 5:16 left up 75-62. Booker checked out at this point.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit to 10 (77-67) with 3:53 to go in the quarter.

A lot of unforced errors led coach Frank Vogel to put Booker back in with 2:42 left, yet the Grizzlies continued their run.

It was 77-71 Phoenix with 2:08 left after a Derrick Rose layup.

Booker finally ended the 14-2 run with a mid-range jumper with 1:53 left.

It was 81-73 Suns heading into the fourth, as the Grizzlies won the quarter 24-19 and forced six turnovers by the Suns. Booker had 10 of these third quarter points for Phoenix. He had 28 points and four steals through three quarters.

Fourth Quarter

Booker continued to be hot, opening up the fourth quarter scoring with a three pointer.

However, Rose stayed making shots of his own, scoring the first four points of the quarter for Memphis.

The two teams exchanged a lot of baskets to start the quarter. Five straight points by Goodwin made it 89-80 Phoenix with 8:36 remaining. The Suns subbed out Devin Booker at this mark.

Phoenix continued to play aggressive defense, and Goodwin cashed in on another basket, knocking down a three with 7:20 left to make it 92-80.

The Grizzlies responded with a two, but Goodwin scored the Suns’ next bucket again, connecting on a floater to make it 94-82 with 5:47 to go.

Booker came back in with 5:06 with the Suns up 95-82. He found Gordon for a three to put the Suns up 16 with 4:24 left. The Grizzlies had scored two points in five minutes at this point after scoring seven in the first three minutes of the quarter.

The Suns kept attacking the Grizzlies and had a 104-85 lead with 2:45 left after Booker found Goodwin cutting to the rim.

The Grizzlies put their subs back in, but Phoenix left its main guys in to extend the point differential. Booker scored four points in the last minute of the game.

The Suns won 110-89.

UPDATE: Kevin Durant ruled out for Suns’ Game vs. Grizzlies

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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