INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers weathered Devin Booker's early scoring flurry Friday night. Then they stormed back late and stunned the Phoenix Suns.
Obi Toppin broke a tie with a putback with 3.4 seconds left, capping a 17-point comeback with a 133-131 victory and spoiling Booker's 62-point masterpiece. «Great player,» Toppin said after finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds when asked about Booker. «But that fourth quarter, we decided to hit and send another defender to get the ball out of his hands and just scramble out of that.
They didn't like it at all. I think it was their worst quarter.» The adjustment certainly made a difference as the Suns managed just 17 points in the final 12 minutes after stringing together quarters of 40, 40 and 34 points.
Still, Booker broke his own Phoenix record for points in a quarter with 29 in the first and had a chance to win it at the buzzer.