Grayson Allen tied the franchise record with a career-high nine 3-pointers and scored 31 points to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 113-97 victory over the visiting Miami Heat on Friday night.
Bradley Beal had 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to help Phoenix win for the fifth time in six games. Devin Booker produced 20 points and 10 assists for the Suns.
Bam Adebayo registered 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, who have dropped three of their past four games. Kevin Love scored 20 points off the bench.
Phoenix star Kevin Durant (hamstring) missed his third straight game.
Miami’s Jimmy Butler missed his third straight contest due to a toe injury and his seventh of eight overall. He missed the first four because of a calf injury.
Allen is the sixth Suns player to make nine 3-pointers in a game.
Phoenix shot 50.6 percent from the field, including 14 of 35 from 3-point range. Drew Eubanks added 11 points off the bench.
The Heat connected on 41 percent of their shots and were just 10 of 37 from behind the arc. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Josh Richardson scored 10 points apiece.
Tyler Herro was just 4-of-17 shooting while scoring nine points for Miami.
Phoenix led by seven at half before scoring 18 of the first 26 points in the third quarter to take an 80-63 lead with 8:01 left in the period. Allen’s layup capped an 11-0 burst.
Allen made his eighth 3-pointer to push the lead to 18 with 6:11 left in the quarter.
The Suns outscored Miami 32-20 in the quarter and led 94-75 entering the final stanza. Phoenix made 12 of 20 shots (60 percent) in the third while the Heat were just 7 of 24 (29.2 percent).
Beal converted a three-point play to increase the lead to 20 for the first time with 8:52 remaining in the contest.
Allen made 3-pointer No. 9 with 2:33 left to make it 110-92.
Allen made seven 3-pointers in the first half while scoring 23 points to help the Suns hold a 62-55 advantage. Phoenix scored the final eight points of the half. Adebayo scored 17 in the half for Miami.
This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission.
