Kevin Durant recorded 31 points and nine rebounds to lead the Phoenix Suns to 114-102 victory over the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.
Durant also became the eighth player in NBA history to top 29,000 career points. He finished the game with 29,010.
Devin Booker scored 21 points, Jusuf Nurkic had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Ryan Dunn tallied 13 points for the Suns.
Luka Doncic had 40 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Mavericks. Kyrie Irving scored 22 points and Klay Thompson added 19.
Phoenix shot 45 percent from the field, including 14 of 39 from 3-point range. The Suns played without Bradley Beal (elbow) and Grayson Allen (away for birth of his child).
The Mavericks made 39.8 percent of their field-goal attempts and were 13 of 41 from behind the arc. Doncic and Thompson each made five treys.
Dallas trailed by eight at the break but started strong in the third quarter with a 12-5 push to move within 68-67 with 9:11 left.
Phoenix answered with a 15-4 push that was capped by Durant’s fadeaway jumper with 4:26 remaining for an 83-71 lead.
The Suns led 91-80 entering the final quarter before the Mavericks crept within six. Dunn and Durant made 3-pointers and Durant added a conventional three-point play to push the Phoenix lead to 105-90 with 6:44 left.
The 3-pointer pushed Durant’s career point total over 29,000. The 9-0 sequence also put the Mavericks away.
Phoenix made 28 of 37 free-throw attempts. Dallas shot just 18, making 15.
Durant scored 15 points and Nurkic added 14 as the Suns held a 63-55 halftime advantage. Doncic had 23 in the half for Dallas.
Doncic had 13 points in the opening quarter but Dallas trailed 28-26 at the end of the period.
Phoenix began the second quarter with an 11-2 burst to take an 11-point lead. The advantage was 48-35 on two free throws by Royce O’Neale just before the midway point of the quarter.
–Field Level Media
