Suns cruise against Pacers day after acquiring Durant

Deandre Ayton had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Devin Booker scored 21 points and Chris Paul chipped in 19 as the Phoenix Suns cruised past the Indiana Pacers 117-104 on Friday night.

Playing one day after their blockbuster trade for fourtime NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant, the Suns led by as many as 26 and never trailed in a game they outrebounded the Pacers 64-45. Durant, acquired from Brooklyn on Thursday, hasn’t played since Jan. 8 when he sustained a knee injury in a game against Miami.

Bennedict Mathurin posted 22 points for the Pacers, while All-star Tyrese Haliburton finished with 18 points and five assists. Indiana, which has lost 14 of its past 16 games, shot 42% from the field and committed 15 turnovers.

Gabe Vincent threw an alley-oop inbounds pass to Jimmy Butler for a dunk with 0.3 seconds remaining, giving Miami a win over Houston.

Tyler Herro had 31 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who won despite scoring only 39 second-half points. Bam Adebayo scored 20 points, Butler had 10 of his 16 points in the fourth and Max Strus added 14 for Miami.

Jayson Tatum scored 41 points and Derrick White set career highs with 33 points and eight 3-pointers to help

Boston hold off Charlotte.

Tatum began the fourth quarter on the bench, but was reinserted after Charlotte cut Boston’s lead to 14 points with 7:03 to play. The Hornets trailed by 28 in the third quarter before closing period on 15-3 run. It was Tatum’s eighth game this season with 40 or more points, but he ran his minutes total to 37 minutes to do it on what was an otherwise light night of work for the MVP contender..

Ja Morant had 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, Desmond Bane added 20 points and Memphis built a big lead through the fourth quarter and coasted past Minnesota.

Santi Aldama finished with 18 points, while Jaren Jackson added 15 points and four blocks as Memphis was still shooting close to 60% when both teams emptied their benches in the fourth.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 10 of his 32 points in overtime and Detroit beat San Antonio in a matchup of two of the NBA’S worst teams.

San Antonio, which lost its 11th straight game, led 125-121 after Devonte’ Graham hit his sixth 3-pointer of his Spurs debut with 18 seconds left in the first overtime. However, Bogdanovic hit a jumper and Isaiah Livers stole the inbounds pass. Bogdanovic, who missed a short jumper at the end of regulation, was fouled with 13.2 seconds left. He made both free throws, and the Spurs couldn’t get off a shot before the buzzer.

Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler each scored 23 points, Collin Sexton had 22 and Utah overcame a 12-point deficit in the final five minutes to beat Toronto and snap a three-game losing streak.

Kelly Olynyk scored 15 points and former Raptor Rudy Gay had 12 for the Jazz, who won despite shooting 6 for 24 from 3-point range, matching a season low. Utah also made six 3-pointers in a Feb. 6 loss to Dallas.

Tyrese Maxey provided a huge boost off the bench, scoring 27 points to help Philadelphia rally from a 13-point deficit for a win over New York.

Joel Embiid had 35 points and 11 rebounds on 14-of18 shooting from the floor, while James Harden added 20 points and 12 assists to help the Sixers gain a measure of revenge for a loss in New York on Sunday night when Philadelphia reinquished a 21-point lead.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored early in his New York debut, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and an assist, and the Rangers beat the Seattle Kraken 6-3 on Friday night for their fourth straight win.

Ryan Lindgren also had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Trouba and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers, who have won five straight at home and are 12-3-0 in their last 15 at Madison Square Garden. Igor Shesterkin had 26 saves to improve to 13-4-4 in his last 21 starts.y.

Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist, and Brandon Tanev and Jared Mccann also scored for Seattle, who lost all three games against New York area teams this week. Vince

Dunn had two assists and Martin Jones had 22 saves.

John Tavares scored twice and Ilya Samsonov stopped 30 shots for his third shutout of the season as Toronto snapped a three-game road losing streak.

Pierre Engvall also scored and Mitch Marner added two assists for the Maple Leafs, who remain in second place in the Atlantic Division with 72 points — 11 points behind first-place Boston.

Caleb Jones scored 3:37 into overtime and Jaxson Stauber made 24 saves, helping Chicago beat Arizona.

Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and two assists as Chicago rallied for the win in a matchup of two of the NHL’S worst teams. Colin Blackwell and Seth Jones also scored, and Stauber improved to 3-0 in three career starts — all this season.

Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Arizona, and Nick Schmaltz had a goal and an assist. Connor Ingram made 40 stops.