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Deandre Ayton added 23 points and nine rebounds, Mikal Bridges
registered 17 points and seven rebounds and Cameron Johnson
added 14 points for the Suns, who won their seventh straight
game and 18th of their past 19.
Phoenix trailed the entire third quarter before using a strong
fourth quarter to defeat the Rockets for the seventh consecutive
time and head into the All-Star break with an NBA-best 48-10
record.
Paul was ejected after apparently inadvertently making contact
with official J.T. Orr with 9:07 left in the third quarter. Paul
had 11 points and six assists in 19 minutes prior to his
ejection.
Houston's Eric Gordon missed a 3-point attempt as time expired.
Dennis Schroder had 23 points and nine assists and Jae'Sean Tate
added 22 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, which lost its
sixth straight game and 10th in its past 11.
Gordon scored 20 points, Alperen Sengun matched his career best
of 19 points and collected a career-high 14 rebounds and Jalen
Green scored 17 points for the Rockets.
Houston played without Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. due
to illnesses.
Kenyon Martin Jr. tallied 11 points for the Rockets, who shot
43.3 percent from the field and were 13 of 44 from 3-point
range.
Phoenix connected on 51.2 percent of its shots, including 7 of
24 from behind the arc.
Houston had led by 12 points late in the first half but trailed
by eight before exploding with a 13-2 run to take a 114-111 lead
with 1:56 left. Sengun's basket tied it with 2:56 remaining and
Green drained a tiebreaking 3-pointer.
Johnson connected on a 3-pointer with 1:47 left to tie it for
the Suns, and Bridges' basket gave Phoenix a two-point lead with
1:10 to play. Bridges then scored on a put-back to give the Suns
a four-point edge with 31.5 seconds remaining.
The Rockets didn't go away and Gordon drilled a 3-pointer with
4.6 seconds left to make it a one-point margin. Booker hit two
free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining prior to Gordon's
game-ending miss.
Phoenix scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to turn
a six-point deficit into a 101-95 lead with 8:42 remaining.
Johnson's basket pushed Phoenix's lead to 109-101 with 5:48
left.
Tate had 16 points and seven rebounds in the first half as the
Rockets held a 67-59 lead at the break.
--Field Level Media
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