Durant, Booker combine for 66 as Suns’ 3-game winning streak ends at Hawks

On By Littum

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Devin Booker scored 35 points, including seven 3s, while Kevin Durant added 31, but it wasn’t enough as Phoenix Suns lost 122-117 to Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.

The loss snapped Phoenix’s three-game winning streak. It also split the season series at two games with the Hawks (20-19) as the Suns continued an 11-year losing streak in Atlanta. Phoenix also fell below .500 (19-20) again.

Booker moved within 300 points of becoming the Suns’ leading scorer. Bradley Beal had 11 points off the bench and nearly suffered another ankle injury in the third.

Trae Young torched the Suns for his season-high 43 points (6-of-12 from 3). The Hawks got a huge boost from their bench from Onyeka Okongwu’s 22 points and 21 rebounds and Garrison Mathews’ 19 points. The shorthanded Hawks outscored the Suns 20-6 on the offensive glass, leading to a 27-9 second-chance edge.

The Suns trailed for most of the first half, and Durant led their 24-8 onslaught through the midway point of the third quarter. But the Hawks ended the third on a 17-8 surge and continued that takeover later in the fourth. Mathews hit his fifth triple with three minutes left. Phoenix trimmed the lead to five on Booker’s seventh trey with 41 seconds left, but the Hawks then stalled.

The Suns continue their five-game road trip Thursday at the Washington Wizards at 17.00

Durant, the Suns rise in the 3rd quarter

Kevin Durant and the Suns got more physical in the third quarter, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 89-87. Durant (game-high 27 points) was a nearly perfect 6-of-7 and added both of his steals in the third. Devin Booker has 21 points.

They regained the lead on a 23-6 run for their biggest lead of nine at 5:24.

Trae Young added seven to his 30 points and Hawks big Onyeka Okongwu scored 10 of his 11 points in the third. They ended the quarter on a 19-3 run.

Booker heats up, Hawks extend lead in 2nd quarter

Devin Booker scored 10 of his 15 points in the second quarter, but the Suns trailed 64-56 at the half. Kevin Durant had 13 points at halftime.

Trae Young leads all scorers with 20 and Hawks backup Garrison Mathews has 14 on a solid 4-of-5 shooting.

The Hawks started the second quarter on a 10-2 run that extended their lead to 10 at 9:15, reached that advantage several other times after that and eventually got their biggest lead at 12 with 2:30 left in the half.

The Suns have made six 3s to the Hawks’ nine.

Durant, Dunn led the Suns in a tight 1st quarter

Kevin Durant has nine points and Suns rookie Ryan Dunn has seven as they narrowly trail, 33-31, after the first quarter.

Atlanta’s Trae Young entered the second quarter with a game-high 13 points (4-of-10 FG, 3-of-5 from 3).

The first quarter was a tight margin, with Phoenix trailing by as many as six at the midway point. The Suns tied the game twice in the final two minutes and took their first lead, 31-28, on Grayson Allen’s second trey with five seconds left. Then Bogdan Bogdanovic matched Allen’s 3 to put the Hawks back on top as time expired.

The Suns shot 60% and the Hawks hit 48% overall.

The Suns will start Tyus Jones, Devin Booker, Ryan Dunn, Kevin Durant and Mason Plumlee.

Hawks’ Trae Young has been upgraded to available and will join their starting five, including Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci, last June’s No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher and center Clint Capela.

Budenholzer says Hawks take ‘special time in my life’

Suns coach Mike Budenholzer has been strolling down memory lane the past few days in Atlanta.

It was there that he landed his first head coaching job with the Hawks in the 2013-14 season. Budenholzer spent the previous 17 years on the NBA’s winningest coach Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs staff.

“It’s interesting now that I’ve been removed for many years and seeing some familiar faces,” Budenholzer said when asked by the Republic’s Duane Rankin during the pregame media availability.

Budenholzer led the Hawks to the postseason in the first four of his five years with the team. The Hawks’ reached their franchise-best 60 wins and were the East’s no. 1 playoff seed in 2015. After Atlanta lost to Cleveland in the conference finals, Budenholzer won his first two career Coach of the Year awards. He was released by the Hawks after the 2017-18 season, when they won just 24 games, and was then hired by Milwaukee, who beat Phoenix in the 2021 Finals.

“It was five great years here,” Budenholzer said. “A lot of great people. A lot of great players. The organization was great for me… This was a special place and a special time in my life.”

Suns’ Allen likely to return, Hawks’ Young questionable

Grayson Allen (left knee soreness) is listed as probable. Allen said at the Suns’ shootaround Tuesday morning that he would likely play against Atlanta, per The Republic’s Duane Rankin. He sat the entire second half of the Suns’ 120-113 home win over Charlotte. Nurkic (illness) is out for the second time in a row. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Nurkic has the fluand didn’t fly with the team to start their East road trip, but hope to have him back in Brooklyn on January 22nd.

Hawks’ All-Star Trae Young is questionable against Phoenix due to an illness and an Achilles injury. Their second-leading scorer Jalen Johnson (shoulder) is out and Bogdan Bogdanovic (knee) is questionable.

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