Suns make it 18 victories in a row
Grizzlies win in a rout like no other
PHOENIX — Cam Johnson and Cameron Payne both scored 19 points to lead the Phoenix Suns to their franchise-record 18th win in a row, beating the Detroit Pistons 114103 on Thursday night.
Johnson and Payne sparked a stellar effort from the Suns’ bench, which finished with 48 points. Deandre Ayton had 17 points and 12 rebounds as Phoenix improved to 19-3 for the season.
Phoenix won despite not having leading scorer Devin Booker for the first time this season. The two-time All-Star suffered a left hamstring injury in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors.
Phoenix shot 76% in the second quarter and led 69-51 by halftime. Payne had 11 points in the second quarter.
The Pistons fought back in the third on a 17-0 run to get within 80-79 after a 3-pointer by rookie Cade Cunningham. It appeared that Detroit tied it at 82 moments later, but a 3-point shot by Hamidou Diallo was ruled to have come after the 24-second clock expired.
Phoenix stopped the rally when Payne hit two free throws and Landry Shamet made a 3, enabling Phoenix to take a sixpoint lead after three.
Detroit did get within five points in the fourth quarter a few times, the last with 2:57 remaining at 104-99 on Saddiq
Bey’s 3-pointer.
GRIZZLIES 152, THUNDER 79:
In Memphis, Tenn., the Grizzlies broke the NBA record for margin of victory in beating Oklahoma City.
The 73-point margin easily topped the previous mark, which was Cleveland’s 68-point win over Miami. The Cavaliers topped the Heat 148-80 on Dec. 17, 1991.
Memphis used 12 players and nine of them reached double figures in scoring, with Jaren Jackson Jr.’s 27 points leading the way for the Grizzlies. Memphis was without its best player, injured guard Ja Morant.
“Man, it feels great. It feels great to be in the history books, especially in front of our home crowd,” said Memphis’ De’Anthony Melton, who scored 19 points. “Everybody contributed, everybody played hard and we all got to get in the game. So, it’s always a blessing.
It was 72-36 at halftime and the Grizzlies just kept adding to the lead, eventually pulling ahead by as many as 78.
The Thunder flirted with being on the wrong end of the record last season, trailing Indiana by 67 points on May 1 before rallying — such as it was — to lose by merely 57 points, 152-95.
“Tonight is not necessarily who we are,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I think we’ve definitely shown that from a competitive standpoint. This isn’t indicative of who our team is.”
BULLS 119, KNICKS 115: In New York, DeMar DeRozan scored 34 points, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic each added 27, and Chicago held on for a victory over New York.
Those three were the only Chicago players to score in the fourth quarter, but it was just enough after the Knicks had erased a 21-point deficit to take the lead.
RAPTORS 97, BUCKS 93: In Toronto, Fred VanVleet scored 29 points, Pascal Siakam had 20 and Toronto took advantage of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s absence to beat Milwaukee, ending the Bucks’ winning streak at eight.
Antetokounmpo was out because of soreness in his right calf, a day after he scored 40 points as Milwaukee beat Charlotte 127-125. The twotime NBA MVP sat for the first time since Nov. 12, when he missed an overtime loss at Boston because of a sprained right ankle.
SPURS 114, TRAIL BLAZERS 83: In Portland, Ore., Bryn Forbes had 18 points off the bench and San Antonio extended its winning streak to a season-high three games with a victory over Portland.
Doug McDermott added 16 points and Dejounte Murray had 15 points and 13 assists for the Spurs.
Note
LAKERS: LeBron James has been cleared to return to the team after missing one game under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
The league said Thursday that James is not positive for COVID-19 despite a series of tests that produced conflicting results earlier this week.