PHOENIX — Jordan Goodwin scored 18 points in his return from a calf injury, Devin Booker added 17 and the Phoenix Suns cruised past the Los Angeles Clippers 133-110 on Tuesday night, according to The Associated Press.
Phoenix shot 22 of 43 from 3-point range and had seven players score in double figures, five of them off the bench, the AP reported. Luke Kennard scored 14, Jalen Green had 13, Collin Gillespie added 12 points and eight assists, and Khaman Maluach chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
Goodwin, who returned to the Suns on a three-year, $19 million deal in the offseason, made 6 of 7 shots from beyond the arc in just 14 minutes after missing the previous three games.
The bench carried the first half, scoring 36 points and accounting for 10 of the team’s 11 first-half 3-pointers, Arizona Sports reported. Gillespie hit a 39-foot 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer for a 64-47 lead, and Phoenix stretched the margin to 91-59 midway through the third quarter.
“He always knows the right spacing to be in, he makes teams pay for overcrowding,” Booker said of Goodwin, according to Arizona Sports.
Booker also passed Julius Erving on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, moving to 79th with 18,371 career points. He is 10 points behind Tracy McGrady.
“Wow. It’s an honor,” Booker said. “Obviously those are two guys I have a high respect for, legends of the game.”
The win improved Phoenix to 4-6 and 3-2 on its season-long, seven-game homestand. The Clippers, who were missing Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal and two others to injury, fell to 2-8 and have lost eight of nine. Rui Hachimura, Baba Miller and Darius Garland each scored 13 for Los Angeles.
The Suns went 23-4 against bottom-10 teams last season, Arizona Sports noted, and get division rivals Sacramento and the Clippers four times each this season.
Sources: Arizona’s Family/AP, Arizona Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Cltjames / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
