Devin Booker took over when the Suns needed it most, and Phoenix rode that late surge to its biggest win of the season.
The Suns beat the Houston Rockets 102-99 on Saturday night, with Booker powering a decisive fourth quarter that flipped a tight game in Phoenix’s favor. The Suns improved to 3-5 with their second straight win, and for the first time this season, they were able to build on momentum from the previous game.
Booker finished with 24 points, but the real damage came down the stretch. With the score tied at 93 and less than five minutes left, he buried four straight field goals and sparked a personal 7-0 run that pushed Phoenix ahead 102-95 with 2:29 remaining.
“Just anything to win at all costs. Team trusts me with the ball and still thinking about the ones I could've made, even later, but we'll take the win,” Booker said after the game, via The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin.
Phoenix came out blazing and looked ready to run away with it early, jumping out to a 19-point lead in the second quarter after shooting 16-for-21 from the field in the first. But the Suns cooled off, and Houston clawed back into the game. Even so, Phoenix stayed within striking distance while the Rockets never found much rhythm offensively.
The Suns’ defense was a major part of the story, too. Houston entered the night with the second-best offensive rating in the league, while Phoenix sat 29th in defensive rating. Still, the Suns held the Rockets to a season-low 38.3% shooting from the field.
That kind of effort is exactly what Phoenix is trying to build on.
“We keep chipping away,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said of the defense. “It’s obviously not where we want to be defensively to start the season.
The last two nights we took some steps, but it’s going to be an ever-evolving process. We have to shift.
“We understand that we’re a little undersized. We have to shift and then get to the ball and then rebound. In stretches, I thought that was some of our best defense of the year.”
Houston, now 7-3, had won the previous eight meetings between the teams, but Booker’s closing stretch snapped that run. Rockets star and former Sun Kevin Durant gave Booker his due afterward.
“He just got loose there. He got some screens, he's able to hit some tough ones too. He had a rainbow shot, he's a great shot maker,” Durant said.
“But look at his stats, 10-for-24, four turnovers, it's just those few late shots, and that's what he does. That's what he gets paid for. That's why he is a Hall of Famer.”
The Suns now turn to a matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. San Antonio has won eight straight.
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Brooks also made it clear he wants his response to land squarely on Durant, not in the usual vague, indirect NBA internet style. For Rockets fans, it is another reminder that this matchup comes with more than the usual playoff-style tension, especially with Brooks leaning into the moment and promising to meet Durants comments head-on. [Read more 🡒]