Phoenix superstar Kevin Durant suffered a left ankle sprain and Jalen Green scored 33 points to lead the visiting Houston Rockets to a 148-109 win over the Suns on Sunday night.
Durant scored 11 points before his night ended when he rolled his ankle on Jabari Smith Jr.’s foot while driving to the basket with 6:57 remaining in the third quarter.
Green’s haul included 4 of 5 made 3-pointers and Alperen Sengun contributed 16 points and nine rebounds.
The Rockets (49-26), who had eight players reach double digits in scoring, notched their third successive victory to consolidate the second position in the Western Conference.
Amen Thompson narrowly missed his fourth triple-double of the season, finishing with 12 points, 10 boards and nine assists.
Phoenix guard Devin Booker scored 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting, but had virtually no support as the Suns (35-40) lost their third straight to remain in the 11th spot in the West.
Seven lead changes occurred in the first quarter before Houston broke away to finish the frame on an 11-0 run with a 32-24 lead at the break.
The Rockets completely dominated the second frame, outscoring the Suns 46-25 while hitting 16 of 23 shots from the floor and 6 of 7 from beyond the 3-point arc.
The visitors out-rebounded the Suns 13-2 for the quarter, while Phoenix led the turnover count 6-2.
Dillon Brooks was ejected with 4:48 remaining in the half after getting tangled up with Durant, before the Canadian shoved Nick Richards who entered the dispute.
All three were hit with technical fouls before Brooks received a disqualifying second tech for showing dissent to the referees. He had to be held back by Houston’s coaching staff before exiting the arena.
The loss of Brooks didn’t stop the Rockets, though, who went 23-11 after the incident to lead 78-49 at the intermission.
Booker, with 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, was the only Sun to make any impression in the lopsided second period.
Phoenix lost Durant in the third frame and continued to fall further behind.
Green poured in 17 points for the quarter, including 3 of 4 shots from beyond the arc, as Houston’s lead ballooned to 112-73.
The gap blew out to 42 points as both sides emptied their benches in the fourth period.
