Devin Booker scored from all over the court. Rudy Gobert and a host of Utah Jazz players did their damage from much closer to the rim.
Gobert on Monday dunked his way to a season-high 27 points and set the single-season NBA dunk record to fuel Utah to a 125-92 victory over the Phoenix Suns, who got 59 points from Booker.
“I’m not rushing like I used to and my teammates are doing a great job finding me. When I’m able to finish and draw fouls, it gives them more confidence to pass me the ball,” Gobert said.
Photo: AP
Booker topped the Vivint Arena record of 51 points by Karl Malone on Dec. 9, 1995, and his previous season high of 55, set in December last year in a triple-overtime loss to Washington.
The fourth-year guard made five three-pointers and shot 19 of 34, despite drawing several double-teams as the Jazz sought to prevent him from reaching 60 points. He also made 16 of 17 free throws.
“I had it rolling a little bit today, so we kept playing through me,” Booker said, but later added in a broad understatement: “We’re still struggling on the defensive end.”
Booker was the only Suns player in double figures. He joined David Robinson and Kobe Bryant as the only players in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a game in which none of his teammates scored more than 10.
Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio each had 18 points and Joe Ingles added 14 as the Jazz won for the seventh time in their past eight games.
“We’re an unselfish team. We move the ball. We share the ball and we play together,” Ingles said as the Jazz had 31 assists and shot 55.8 percent from the field. “We’ve never worried about someone shooting too much or not enough.”
Gobert’s alley-oop off a lob from Donovan Mitchell in the second quarter was his 270th dunk of the season. The center’s 275 dunks are the most in the NBA since the statistic started being tracked in 2000, besting Dwight Howard’s 269 slams in 2007-2008.
After the game, Rubio joked that Gobert can quit complaining they do not get him the ball enough.
Gobert had six dunks in the game — he missed a no-look reverse attempt in the third period — and he averages 3.7 per contest. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo had 262 dunks entering the night.
“They have to pick their poison,” Gobert said about recent opponents who have concentrated on jamming him on the pick-and-roll. “It’s fun to win and it’s fun to get dunks. It’s fun to get threes, too, but it’s all about sharing the ball.”
Also on Monday, it was:
‧ Trail Blazers 148, Nets 144
‧ Magic 119, 76ers 98
‧ Grizzlies 115, Thunder 103
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