Basketball: Davis spoils Curry's return to Warriors, Durant dazzles as Suns down Mavericks

LOS ANGELES – Kevin Durant produced a 37-point masterpiece, including at clutch time, to help the Phoenix Suns beat Dallas Mavericks 130-126 on Sunday as he faced off against Kyrie Irving for the first time since they both requested trades away from Brooklyn.

Durant, however, said he had not been distracted by playing against his former Nets teammate.

“I’ve played more of my career against him than with him, so it didn’t feel any different,” Durant said. “We just want to keep building.”

Phoenix’s clash with Dallas lived up to the hype, with 13 lead changes in a National Basketball Association contest that went down to the wire.

Durant, traded to Phoenix in a blockbuster move from the Nets in February, delivered a signature clutch performance to guide the Suns to victory.

The 34-year-old scored the go-ahead basket with less than 12 seconds remaining before adding two late free throws to seal the win.

He said: “Nobody’s ever going to retreat when they guard me.

“So sometimes I’ve got to veer off instead of straight-line driving it. I felt like I had a good handle on the ball. Once I had it on my hip, I felt like I was in good position to stop on a dime.”

Durant received support from Devin Booker, who added 36 points, 10 assists and five rebounds, while Chris Paul added 11 points.

“We dug down deep,” Durant said. “Just tried to do my best and finish the shot. Guys were moving the ball all night – it was a good win.”

Dallas star Luka Doncic, meanwhile, finished with 34 points, with Irving contributing 30 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. adding 21 off the bench.

Tempers flared in the dying seconds with Doncic and Booker going nose-to-nose after the Slovenian squandered a relatively straightforward chance to tie the game with six seconds remaining.

Doncic confronted Booker after the Phoenix star appeared to taunt the Dallas talisman, triggering a confrontation between players from both teams.

“It’s a competitive game. It’s all good,” Doncic said of his spat with Booker. “Next time, just don’t wait until there’s three seconds left to talk.”

Booker laughed off the verbal dust-up. “It was just two competitors going at it,” he said. “I’ve no problem with Luka on or off the court – but when we’re competing, we’re competing.”

He added: “You guys say you don’t want everybody to be friendly-friendly, there you go. We got some smoke.”

Phoenix improved to 36-29 to stay in fourth spot in the West while Dallas fell to 33-32. The Mavs are in seventh, just outside the automatic post-season places.

In Los Angeles, Anthony Davis once again came up big for the Lakers in the absence of the injured LeBron James to help secure a 113-105 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Davis finished with 39 points, eight rebounds and six assists as six Lakers players finished in double figures.

Said Warriors coach Steve Kerr: “There’s a stretch (when we got careless)... if we could have executed, we could have gotten some good shots. We just didn’t execute.”

The Lakers sprinted into a 20-point lead in the first quarter and then held off a second-half rally from the NBA champions.

“We knew it was going to be a battle, guys made plays, guys stepped up and we buckled down defensively,” Davis said.

“They’re the defending champions and they know how to play when they’re down. We just kept battling, weathered the storm and came out with the victory.”

The returning Curry, meanwhile, led the Warriors’ scoring with 27 points, while Klay Thompson added 22.

Said Curry: “I felt like I got stronger as the game went on... We have to maintain trust in each other because we are all aiming to win at the highest level.”

The Warriors fell to 34-31 with the loss and are fifth in the Western Conference. The Lakers improved to 31-34, and are just outside play-in places.

Said Curry: “We have an outside shot of getting home-court advantage. It’s weird to say, we’re still trying to win championships but we’re trying to avoid the play-in. Both can be true...

“Until we get beat, we still feel we’re a tough match-up for anybody. That is the confidence we’ve got to have down the stretch.” REUTERS