Kevin Durant’s 42 factors leads Suns to win over Cavaliers, who’ve misplaced 4 straight since 16-game win streak

Kevin Durant scored 42 factors to guide the Phoenix Suns to certainly one of its largest wins of the season, a 123-112 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday evening. 

Not solely did the Suns beat one of many NBA’s high groups, in addition they moved forward of the Dallas Mavericks for the tenth spot within the Western Convention standings which might put them within the play-in event. 

Cleveland took an early 11-7 lead, however the Suns went forward with a 16-9 burst to take the lead. The Cavs briefly went again forward on a Darius Garland jumper with 42 seconds left within the body, however Durant gave Phoenix the lead going into the second quarter. 

The Suns then took management on two 3-pointers from Royce O’Neale and a floater within the lane by Devin Booker for a 49-38 lead and took an 11-point margin into halftime.

“Just taking the open ones, knocking them down,” O’Neale advised the Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin afterwards. “These guys were finding me. You see one, two, three go in, you know, just keep shooting.”

O’Neale completed with 15 factors off the bench, hitting 5-of-8 3-pointers. Booker added 17 with 10 assists, whereas Tyus Jones added 16 factors. Oso Ighodaro grabbed 13 rebonds, whereas Durant additionally had eight rebounds and 6 assists for the evening.

Phoenix performed with out Bradley Beal, who missed his third consecutive sport with a hamstring harm suffered in final Sunday’s 107-96 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. He is set to be reevaluated earlier than Sunday’s matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. Grayson Allen was additionally out with a foot harm that is sidelined him for the previous 5 video games.

The Suns have received three straight and 4 of their previous 5. Phoenix and Dallas are each 34-37, however the Suns have the tiebreaker with a 3-1 season report versus the Mavericks.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 18 factors, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, with De’Andre Hunter including 17 off the bench. Evan Mobley and Ty Jerome every scored 16 factors with 5 assists, with Mobley additionally getting 12 rebounds. 

After successful 16 straight video games, Cleveland has now misplaced 4 in a row. With the loss to Phoenix, Cleveland dropped to 56-14 and behind the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder (58-12) for the most effective report within the NBA. Nonetheless, the Cavs nonetheless maintain a five-game lead over the Boston Celtics (51-19) for the highest mark within the East. 

Cleveland has a chance to show issues round, ending its Western street journey with matchups in opposition to the Utah Jazz (16-55) and Portland Path Blazers (32-39).