Bulls gore Nuggets, Suns buck Durant absence to trounce Thunder

LOS ANGELES: Zach Lavine poured in 29 points as the Chicago Bulls ended the Denver Nuggets’ eight-game home unbeaten streak with a 117-96 victory in Colorado on Wednesday.

The Bulls, who are languishing just outside the play-in places in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, took control with a 36-point third quarter to upset the runaway Western Conference leaders.

The Nuggets have been near-invincible in Denver this season, with a league-best 30-4 home record and were unbeaten in eight at their Ball Arena fortress before Wednesday.

But a gutsy Chicago performance ended with Denver on the wrong end of a rare blowout as Lavine finished with 29 points from 12-of-18 shooting and Nikola Vucevic added 25 points with 14 rebounds.

Denver’s reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic was held to 18 points.

In other games, Phoenix shrugged off the late injury absence of Kevin Durant — who had been due to make his home debut — to trounce the Oklahoma City Thunder 132-101.

Suns fans had been eager to get their first glimpse of Durant at their home venue since his blockbuster trade from Brooklyn last month.

But the 34-year-old superstar was ruled out shortly before tip-off after rolling an ankle as he attempted a layup during the warm-up.

In Durant’s absence, Devin Booker took center stage for Phoenix, erupting for 44 points with Terrence Ross adding 24 from the bench and Chris Paul chipping in with 18.

Phoenix coach Monty Williams said Durant had suffered an ankle sprain.

“We have to wait and see how he responds to treatment and we’ll probably get some more imaging just to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Williams said.

“He was out there working his tail off getting ready for the game and he twisted his ankle —