NBA ROUNDUP

Suns 128, Thunder 101

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Devin Booker scored 35 points, and the Phoenix Suns rolled past the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder 128-101 on Monday to improve to 6-0 in the restart and improve their playoff chances.

The Suns have surged in the Western Conference standings.

They entered the day just 11⁄2 games behind eighth-place Memphis and a game behind ninth-place Portland in the race to qualify for a spot in the playin series.

Phoenix center Deandre Ayton sat out the first quarter because he missed his coronavirus test on Sunday. He tested negative on Monday and was cleared.

With Ayton out, Oklahoma City led 37-23 at the end of the first quarter. Ayton entered the game at the start of the second quarter, and Phoenix dominated the rest of the way. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds in just over 17 minutes.

Oklahoma City was without four of its top five scorers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right calf bruise), Danilo Gallinari (left ankle), Dennis Schroder (birth of child) and Steven Adams (bruised left leg) sat out. Reserve center Nerlens Noel (right ankle; sprain) also did not play.

Mavericks 122, Jazz 114

The short-handed Dallas Mavericks rallied from a 22-point deficit in the second half to stun the Utah Jazz 122-114 on Monday.

Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Mavericks with 27 points and Seth Curry added 22. Boban Majanovic had 20 points and nine rebounds.

It was the biggest comeback for the Mavericks since February 2016 and the win means Dallas still has a slim shot at earning the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Dallas won despite playing without stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, who were both resting because of nagging injuries.

The Mavericks trailed 78-56 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter after Utah’s Emmanuel Mudiay made a 3pointer. They slowly rallied throughout the third quarter and then scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to take a 101-100 lead with about eight minutes left.

Dallas outscored Utah 34-14 in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks shot 12 of 24 (50 percent) from 3-point range.

Utah was led by Jordan Clarkson, who scored 18 points. Rayjon Tucker scored 17 points off the bench.

ASHLEY LANDIS/POOL PHOTO/USA TODAY SPORTS The Mavericks’ Maxi Kleber (42) shoots as the Jazz’s Jordan Clarkson (00) defends during the first half on Monday.