Phoenix Suns rout Portland Trail Blazers for 4th straight win despite Booker's off night

The Phoenix Suns (18-15) won its fourth straight game, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 109-88 Monday night at Footprint Center.

Phoenix began pulling away in the third quarter by gaining its largest lead, 25 points, even as Devin Booker hit a scoring slump. The team's second-leading scorer behind Kevin Durant, who sat out with right hamstring soreness, had his second-lowest total this season of 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

However, Booker impacted the game in other ways, recording team-highs eight rebounds and six assists.

Bradley Beal led all scorers with 21, and the team's three other starters Jusuf Nurkic, Chimezie Metu and Grayson Allen, scored in double figures with 18, 14, and 12, respectively.

Eric Gordon came off the bench for 12 points, bouncing back after his scoreless outing in Phoenix's win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday. Suns' backup big Bol Bol had his season-highs 11 points and nine rebounds, and helped spark a second-quarter surge to help Phoenix take a halftime lead after the team trailed Portland in the first quarter.

Portland's 2023 top draft pick Scoot Henderson had his team-high 17 points in the loss.

The Suns will play their next game on Wednesday at home against the Los Angeles Clippers, the first meeting this season between the Pacific Division rivals.

Suns gains big lead in 3rd amid Booker's shooting slump

Phoenix has broken the game wide open in its favor, up 86-61 over Portland after the third quarter.

Four of the Suns' starters have scored in double figures except Devin Booker who has eight points.

Booker's having an uncharacteristic 3-of-15 shooting slump, including 1-of-4 from deep. However, as the primary ball-handler, he's impacting the Suns offense by racking up game-high six assists and eight rebounds.

Suns rise in 2nd quarter behind Bol, Metu

Phoenix's home crowd went into a frenzy as Bol Bol and Chimezie Metu were the team's accelerants in the second quarter, with leading Portland at the break, 55-47.

The Suns outscored the Trail Blazers, 35-18, as the team's fan favorite Bol came off the bench to spark Phoenix's 21-8 run through near the four-minute mark when he came out the game.

Bol replaced Devin Booker, who hadn’t found his shooting rhythm (three points, 1-of-9 FG), at the beginning of the second quarter, and contributed five points, four rebounds, and one assist.

That includes Bol's crowd-roaring open-court euro step dunk play at the 8:42 mark that cut the lead to three, and his trey that put Phoenix up by six three minutes later.

Metu has 10 points (3-of-5 shooting), and scored seven in the second. Bradley Beal (10 points) scored six in the Suns' 16-point swing to take a seven point lead, and led by as much as 11 toward in the closing minutes.

Grayson Allen has Phoenix's team-high 12 points, and Portland's Scott Henderson has the game-high 13.

Suns struggle shooting, trailing Blazers after 1st quarter

Phoenix is down 29-20 to Portland at the end of the opening quarter.

Grayson Allen is the only Suns starter shooting decently with eight points, hitting 3-of-4 from the field.

The team shot a meager 7-of-23 following a slow shooting start, hitting just 2-of-13, including 0-9 from the 3 through the first eight minutes.

Portland's Jerami Grant currently leads all scorers with nine points.

Starting lineups

The Suns are starting guards Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen on the wing, Chimezie Metu and Jusuf Nurkic in the frontcourt.

The Trail Blazers will open with the NBA's 2023 Sixth Man of the Year award winner, Malcolm Brogdon, their top draft pick rookie Scoot Henderson in the backcourt, Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybuille and Moses Brown in the middle.

Gordon in for Suns

Phoenix's Eric Gordon (right calf soreness) has been upgraded to available for the Suns.

Before the veteran guard and Phoenix's fourth-leading scorer (13.5 points per game) had a zero outing in Phoenix's win over Orlando, he shot well in the previous three games. Gordon had 27, 21, and 14 points, respectively, and drained a combined 16 treys.

Additional injury updates

In addition to Durant on the Suns' injury report, Vogel said in his pregame media session that one of the team's top shooters Eric Gordon (right calf soreness) is a game-time decision. Nassir Little (orbital fracture) is back tonight, available, and Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) is still out.

For Portland, former Sun Deandre Ayton will miss Monday's game (right knee tendonitis) and Anfernee Simons (illness) also is out.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns rout Trail Blazers, extend win steak to 4 amid Booker's slump