Suns Squeeze Past Cavs as Stars Shine
PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns improved to 38-27 on the season after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in 115-111 fashion on Monday. Phoenix has now won their last three-of-four.
Looking to take advantage of a Cavs squad without six players - most notably Donovan Mitchell - it was Cleveland who paced action for the first half, leading by as much as 19 in the first two frames before carrying a 70-63 lead into halftime.
Yet the Suns managed to battle back, eventually taking the lead back in the middle of the third quarter and ultimately holding off a feisty Cavaliers squad led by Darius Garland, who scored 30 points on 10-17 shooting from the field.
Drew Eubanks finished the game for Jusuf Nurkic at center, though no update was immediately provided on why the Bosnian Beast was spotted sitting on the bench rather than ending the game on the court.
Phoenix retains possession of the West's No. 6 seed thanks to another vintage performance from Kevin Durant, who scored 37 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists.
Devin Booker, who returned from a four-game absence, dropped a 27-6-7 stat line after recovering from a sprained ankle. Bradley Beal chipped in 24 points of his own with five rebounds and four assists.
That was roughly it for Phoenix's major contributions, as Nurkic scored just nine points with eight rebounds while Grayson Allen dropped 14 points on 4-5 shooting from downtown.
Phoenix's four-deep bench provided a total of six points. Royce O'Neale and Bol Bol combined for zero buckets in their totaled 39 minutes together.
As the Suns look forward to their Thursday night meeting against Boston in game two of a four-game road tilt, they'll look to improve team stats such as free throw percentage (68.4%) and turnovers (14) despite being happy with the win.
Phoenix previously dropped their home date with the Celtics on Saturday without Booker in the mix.
