Kevin Durant scored 35 points, but turnovers and bad defense doomed the Phoenix Suns in Atlanta as they lost to Hawks 129-120 on Friday.
Turnovers hurt the Suns in the fourth. Booker had a backcourt violation with 6:51 left and then about two minutes later, Durant thought he had a fast break bucket to cut the lead to five but Young stole the ball and then hit a pull-up 3-pointers to put the Hawks back up by double digits, 121-111. The Suns came within five points of Atlanta but couldn’t get a stop. Phoenix had seven turnovers in the fourth, 17 total.
Devin Booker scored 24 points on 8-16 shooting, plus six rebounds and four assists. Jusuf Nurkic and Bradley Beal both had 14 points. The Suns have now lost 10 straight against the Hawks on the road. They haven’t won in Atlanta since March 24, 2014.
The Suns had a brief three-point lead at the end of the third quarter with 2:02 left. But the Hawks went on a 10-1 run and had a five-point lead, 100-95, heading into the final frame. The final quarter is where the Suns have struggled the most, having the worst point differential in the league. Phoenix was outscored by four in the fourth quarter.
Trae Young led the way for the Hawks, shooting 12-17 from the field, including seven 3-pointers, finishing with 32 points and 15 assists. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 23 points and Dejounte Murray had 22 points.
The Hawks pushed their lead to a game-high 11 points at 63-52 with 2:21 left in the second, capped off with a driving layup from Trae Young. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 12 of the Hawks 33 points in the quarter. But the Suns responded with their own 11-2 run. Durant had 10 points in the quarter.
It was back and forth in the first quarter, with neither team getting a lead higher than five points. Atlanta had seven points off turnovers compared to Phoenix’s two. Young started the game on fire, hitting 4-5 from the field, including 3-3 from beyond the arc, for 11 points.
Friday’s game was the Suns’ sixth straight game on the road, with the final game on the road trip on Sunday against the Washington Wizards.