NBA roundup: Devin Booker scores 35 in Suns’ win over Thunder; Raptors beat Bucks

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 1 1/2 games behind eighth-place Memphis and a game behind ninth-place Portland in the race to qualify for a spot in the play-in series.

Phoenix center Deandre Ayton sat out the first 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 first quarter. Ayton entered the game at the start of the second quarter, and Phoenix dominated the rest of the way. He finished with 10 points and six rebounds in just over 17 minutes.

Oklahoma City was without four of its top five 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.

Rookie Darius Bazley had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder.

Mavericks 122, Jazz 114

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Dallas Mavericks vs. Utah Jazz highlights.

Short-handed Dallas rallied from a 22-point deficit in the second half to stun Utah.

Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Mavericks with 27 points and Seth Curry added 22. Boban Marjanovic 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 playoffs.

“I loved the comeback,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “I love winning. I hate losing. I love winning for the feeling that our guys get from doing something together.”

Dallas won despite playing without stars Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, who were both resting because of nagging injuries. Utah was playing without star Donovan Mitchell and coach Quin Snyder played backups for much of the game to rest his starters.

Raptors 114, Bucks 106

Chris Boucher scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Raptors defeat the Bucks.

Though the meeting featured the top two teams in the Eastern Conference standings, both teams were missing key players.

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP, missed the game after undergoing oral surgery. Bucks coach Mike Budehnolzer said Monday it was uncertain whether Antetokounmpo would play in the team’s final two seeding games Tuesday against the Washington Wizards and Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies.

For Toronto, Kyle Lowry sat out with a sore lower back, Serge Ibaka missed the game with a bruised right knee and Fred Van Vleet was out with a hyperextended right knee.

Heat 114, Pacers 92

Jimmy Butler returned from a foot injury and scored 19 points, Derrick Jones scored 18 off the Miami bench and the Heat kept T.J. Warren largely in check on the way to a 114-92 win over the Pacers on Monday night.

Tyler Herro scored 17 while Duncan Robinson and Jae Crowder each added 14 for Miami, which snapped a two-game slide. The Heat took control for good in the third quarter, blowing open what was a tie game with a 35-17 run.

Goran Dragic scored 11 and Bam Adebayo added 10 for Miami.

Warren scored 12 for Indiana on 5 for 14 shooting in 29 minutes. He came into Monday averaging a bubble-leading 34.8 points per game on 61% shooting from the field, 56% from 3-point range, but never got rolling against Butler and the Heat.

Victor Oladipo scored 14 and Malcolm Brogdon added 12 for Indiana.