Portland Trail Blazers @ Phoenix Suns
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 9:00 PM ET
Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ | Game ID: 22300041
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
PHX 34 22 38 26 120POR 21 30 31 25 107
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Durant scores 31, now 11th all time in points, Suns roll past Portland 120-107
PHOENIX -- — Kevin Durant scored 31 points, passing Elvin Hayes for 11th place all time, and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 120-107 in an In-Season Tournament game on Tuesday night.
Durant, playing in his 1,000th NBA game, needed 14 points to pass Hayes, who had 27,313 in his career. He achieved that in the first quarter on 6-of-6 shooting, including a 3-pointer and a free throw. He finished 13 of 21 from the field, making both 3-point tries, in 37 minutes.
“Being amongst the all-time greats, the guys who set the standard and made the NBA what it is today is an honor,” Durant said. “It’s pretty cool and I just gotta keep going.”
Durant scored 39 points in 46 minutes in a double-overtime win at Utah on Sunday. He has 27,330 in his career.
“Incredible,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “He's one of the best to ever do it. And he's not slowing down.”
Devin Booker scored 28 points and was 10 for 10 from the free-throw line for the Suns, who won their fourth in a row overall and are 2-1 in West Group A in the tournament while the Trail Blazers finish group play at 1-3. Phoenix plays its final group game Friday at Memphis.
Deandre Ayton , booed heavily by the Footprint Center sellout crowd in his return to Phoenix, finished with 18 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who lost their eighth in a row.
Ayton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft out of Arizona, played his first five seasons with the Suns. He was traded to Portland in a three-team deal that saw longtime Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard go to Milwaukee and the Suns acquire Grayson Allen and Jusuf Nurkic — both starters for the Suns on Tuesday.
“It was fun,” Ayton said. “They are always going to bring the crowd. Definitely felt the environment. I was just trying to do my best having fun.”
Nurkic scored 18 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for Phoenix. Nassir Little had 13 points for Phoenix and Eric Gordon added 10. The Suns had a 66-46 advantage in points in the paint and were 27 of 28 from the free-throw line.
“We're getting better. It's still a work in progress,” Vogel said. “We had a lot of great execution and possessions in the second half.”
Jerami Grant scored 26 points to lead Portland. Malcolm Brogdon returned from a strained left hamstring and scored 19 for the Trail Blazers, who rallied from 13 points down after the first quarter to tie it midway through the second. Phoenix led 56-51 at halftime and led by as many as 18 down the stretch.
“That is just an elite team that will be contending for a championship this year,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “They outlasted us but for the most part I thought we played well. We fouled too much and gave them the free-throw line."
The Suns again played without Bradley Beal , sidelined with lower back spasms for at least two more weeks. Yuta Watanabe (deep bruise in left thigh) also was out for Phoenix.
POR KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
PORDA D. Ayton
DR D. Reath
JB J. Bouyea
JG J. Grant
JW J. Walker
KM K. Murray
MB M. Brogdon
MB M. Brown
MT M. Thybulle
RR R. Rupert
SM S. Mays
SS S. Sharpe
TC T. Camara
PHXCM C. Metu
DB D. Booker
DE D. Eubanks
EG E. Gordon
GA G. Allen
JG J. Goodwin
JN J. Nurkić
JO J. Okogie
KB K. Bates-Diop
KD K. Durant
NL N. Little
POR/PHX the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur