Johnson Booed, Beaten in Return to Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns -- and their fans -- spoiled Joe Johnson’s homecoming.

Booing Johnson incessantly, the crowd of 16,992 at America West Arena helped boost the Suns to an easy 112-94 victory over Johnson’s Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night.

“I expected it,” said Johnson, who scored 23 points in his first game with the Hawks against his former team. “But it was more than I thought it would be. I’m glad this one’s over.”

James Jones scored a season-high 20 points and Shawn Marion also had 20 as the Suns put the game away with a 25-10 first quarter en route to their sixth consecutive victory. They have also held eight straight opponents under 100 points.

Johnson, who forced a trade from Phoenix to Atlanta in August, sat out the final 15 minutes.

“I didn’t want to get out there again -- to get more boos,” he said.

Seattle 107, Indiana 102 -- Ray Allen scored 25 points and Ronald Murray had eight of his 18 in the fourth quarter at Seattle to help the SuperSonics to their third straight victory.

Ron Artest tied his season-high with 30 points for the Pacers, who looked lethargic at times in ending a five-game, eight-day trip at 3-2.

Minnesota 85, Sacramento 77 -- Wally Szczerbiak scored 18 points and Troy Hudson had 17 to help the Timberwolves overcome Kevin Garnett’s season-low 11 points on three-for-14 shooting at Sacramento. Mike Bibby had 14 points for the Kings, who scored two points during a nine-minute stretch spanning the second and third quarters in losing their third in a row.

Boston 102, New York 99 -- Ricky Davis scored 27 points and made two free throws with 8.7 seconds left, then Nate Robinson missed a three-pointer on the final play in the Celtics’ victory at New York. Stephon Marbury led the Knicks with 35 points, 24 of them coming in the first half. He made 17 of 21 free throws.

Utah 98, Portland 93 -- Mehmet Okur had 28 points and eight rebounds at Salt Lake City and the Jazz held on after leading by as many as 14 points to end a three-game losing streak.

Portland got 19 points apiece from Sebastian Telfair and Ruben Patterson, playing for the first time in seven games after being put on the inactive list for cursing Coach Nate McMillan. The Trail Blazers were without forward Darius Miles (knee).

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Celtic Coach Doc Rivers was fined $10,000 by the NBA for failing to leave the court in a timely manner Friday after getting ejected against Chicago.