Booker and Brooks lead Suns to monumental thrashing of Pacers

Combining for 65 points, Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks commanded the Phoenix Suns' emphatic 133-98 victory Thursday over the defending NBA runners-up, the Indiana Pacers.

Indiana’s long march through the desert in the wake of the Achilles tendon injury to its star player, Tyrese Haliburton, in the final game of the Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Without Haliburton, who will be out for possibly the entire season, the Pacers have a record of 11 losses and just one win, the worst in the league and tied with the Washington Wizards.

The 35-point loss at Phoenix is the biggest of the year for the team now led by Cameroon's Pascal Siakam, who was held to 19 points.

The Suns, on the other hand, have an 8-5 record and sit in seventh place in the Western Conference, one spot out of the direct playoff spot, where few expected them to be at the start of the season.

Before the campaign, Phoenix activated its franchise rebuilding process with the sales of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal and the hiring of a rookie coach, Jordan Ott.

But the 40-year-old coach is so far knowing how to fit the new pieces and the Suns have now strung together five straight wins despite the fact that point guard Jalen Green, the main return from the trade of Durant to Houston, played only two games.

But the 40-year-old coach has managed to make the new pieces fit, as the Suns have now strung together five straight wins, even though shooting guard Jalen Green, the key addition from the Durant trade with Houston, has played only two games.

Devin Booker, leader and soul of the team, continues to carry the offensive weight and against Indiana surpassed the thirty-point mark for the seventh time this season, finishing with 33 points in only 29 minutes.

Next to him, the temperamental forward Dillon Brooks, also landed from Houston, scored a career-high 32 points in 28 minutes on the court for the Suns.

In another of Thursday's three games, the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Utah Jazz 132-122 with a mammoth triple double by power forward Jalen Johnson.

In the absence of stars such as Trae Young and Kristaps Porzingis, Johnson signed one of the best tallies of the season with 31 points, 18 rebounds, 14 assists and 7 steals.

Jazz star Finnish Lauri Markkanen finished with 40 points and rookie forward Ace Bailey had 21.