New York: Phoenix’s Devin Booker scored 40 points to lead the Suns over visiting Philadelphia 114-109 on Monday, delivering the first loss of the season to the NBA’s last unbeaten team.
Spanish guard Ricky Rubio added 21 points and 10 assists for the Suns while Phoenix poured in 23 points off 20 Philadelphia turnovers.
Booker, who turned 23 last week, became the eighth-youngest player in NBA history to crack the 6,000 career points mark. The fifth-season guard was greeted by chants of “M-V-P” for Most Valuable Player as he walked off the court.
The Suns, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, improved to 5-2 while the 76ers slid to 5-1. It took Phoenix 29 games last season to reach a fifth victory.
Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 34 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to power Milwaukee over host Minnesota 134-106 after a 49-minute delay at the start to fix a faulty basket.
Khris Middleton added 26 points and Eric Bledsoe 22 for the Bucks (5-2) while Andrew Wiggins led Minnesota (4-2) for 25 points. Rookie forward Eric Paschall scored 36 points and grabbed 13 rebounds on his 23rd birthday to lead injury-hit Golden State over Portland 127-118 for the Warriors’ first win at their new $1 billion home arena in San Francisco.
