HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 26 points and hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to help the Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns 100-97 on Monday night.
The game was tied when Durant drained a 27-footer to lift the Rockets past his former team. Durant joined the Rockets from Phoenix this summer in a blockbuster trade that sent Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green to the Suns.
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After Durant helped end the game for the Rockets, Devin Booker’s 3-pointer bounced off the rim.
The Suns had a chance to take the lead before Durant made the game-winning shot, but Booker missed his three-pointer. Phoenix got the rebound, but the shot clock expired and Houston got the ball with 5.1 seconds left.
Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. each scored 17 points to help Houston win for the fifth time in six games.
Booker scored 27 points and Brooks scored 15 points for the Suns, ending their two-game winning streak.
With the Rockets leading by seven points with less than five minutes left, the Suns went on a 10-0 run, led by Booker’s eight straight points, to take a 97-94 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left.
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Smith made a free throw with six minutes left, but Thompson’s 3-pointer tied the game with less than two minutes left and the Rockets went without a field goal for nearly 4 1/2 minutes.
Houston’s Alperen Sengun is out Saturday after spraining his right ankle, and coach Ime Udoka said the big man is expected to miss 10 to 14 days with the injury.
The game was briefly delayed in the second quarter due to clock and scoreboard malfunctions, and neither team was working when play resumed with the public address announcer regularly calling time on the game clock and shot clock.
The clock and scoreboard started running with about four minutes left in the first half, and the clock resumed at the start of the third quarter.
Next
Suns: Visit Memphis on Wednesday.
Rockets: Play back-to-back games in Portland on Wednesday and Friday.
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