Devin Booker’s 30 points lift Suns past Hornets, 101-96

The Phoenix Suns led 48-31 halfway through the second quarter, and it looked like they were on their way to another stress-free win against a depleted Charlotte Hornets team. Without the franchise cornerstone players Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, and with a superb stretch from the Suns bench, the Hornets looked dead in the water, but ultimately fought back and made this game a slog for the final two and a half quarters for the Suns, who won 101-96.

Two things were apparent in this game: the Phoenix Suns could not rebound, and the Charlotte Hornets could not stop turning the basketball over. The Hornets outrebounded the Suns 64-to-43 and outscored the Suns 16-7 in second-chance points. The Suns forced 27 Hornets turnovers (each Hornets starter had at least four turnovers) while the Suns committed eight turnovers. So the rebounding numbers are skewed in favor of the Hornets because they had 13 fewer shots on goal than the Suns did. However, 22 Suns defensive rebounds compared to 15 Hornets offensive rebounds is not getting the job done at all for a Suns team that can be much better than they have been this season at rebounding.

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Because the Suns could not rebound the ball and play as fast as they needed to get the offense going, the game became a half-court slog in the second half. The Suns shot 13-for-42 from the 3-point line, and a lot of the looks that went in on Tuesday did not fall for the Suns against the Hornets. Overall, the Suns were 41% from the field, and only one player had a field goal percentage higher than 50%. Devin Armani Booker scored 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, 4-for-8 from the 3-point line, and had seven assists with just two turnovers. He made every big shot for Phoenix in clutch time, including a deep dagger 3 with 23 seconds left to give the Suns a decisive six-point lead.

All eyes were on Miles Bridges, Grayson Allen, and Royce O’Neale in this game because of the Bridges trade that happened this offseason. Bridges scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, and had three assists, and was effective playing with the bench units, but continued to struggle to make an impact with…


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Publish date : 2026-11-13 05:29:00

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