Kevin Durant recorded 31 points and nine assists and Devin Booker scored 28 points as the Phoenix Suns notched a 120-107 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
Playing in his 1,000th career game, Durant moved into 11th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 27,331 points. Durant passed Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes, who had 27,313 points from 1968 to 1984.
Jerami Grant scored 26 points for the Trail Blazers, who lost their eighth consecutive game.
Deandre Ayton played in Phoenix for the first time since the Suns dealt him to Portland in the three-team deal that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. The former No. 1 overall draft choice had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Two Phoenix players who were part of the trade scored in double digits. Jusuf Nurkic had 18 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots and Nassir Little added 13 points.
Portland’s Malcolm Brogdon scored 19 points in 25 minutes after missing five straight games with a hamstring injury.
The contest was part of the NBA in-season tournament. Phoenix improved to 2-1 in West Group A while the Trail Blazers finished 1-3.
The Suns connected on 56.6 percent of their shots, including 7 of 17 from 3-point range, while winning their fourth straight game.
The Trail Blazers made 43.7 percent of their attempts and were 14 of 31 from behind the arc.
Portland used an 11-0 burst — including the first five of the final quarter — to move within 94-87. But Phoenix eventually increased the lead to 113-97 on Nurkic’s 3-pointer with 6:04 remaining.
The Trail Blazers later were within nine before the Suns closed it out. Booker scored four straight points and Eric Gordon made a 3-pointer to make it 120-104 with 1:39 left.
Durant scored 14 first-quarter points on 6-of-6 shooting. His basket with 2:58 remaining in the period pushed him past Hayes.
Phoenix led 34-21 after the quarter and pushed the lead to 17 early in the second. However, the Trail Blazers went on a 21-4 surge with Brogdon making his third trey in 74 seconds to knot the score at 42 with 6:07 left.
The Suns led 56-51 at the half and pulled away again in the third quarter by scoring 38 points on 15-of-24 shooting. Durant’s layup increased the lead to 94-76 with 1:29 left.
–Field Level Media
