PHOENIX – Chris Paul made a career-high seven three-pointers but felt he should have scored more, as the Phoenix Suns stretched their winning streak to a season-best seven games with a 119-115 home win over the short-handed Denver Nuggets on Thursday.

Kevin Durant scored 12 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and sank six treys, as Paul added 25 points to help the Suns wrap up the No. 4 seed in the National Basketball Association Western Conference.

Deandre Ayton scored 16 points, Devin Booker had 15 points and eight assists and Torrey Craig added 11 points for the Suns.

Phoenix are 8-0 when Durant has been able to play since being acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in February.

Said Paul: “It was a weird game, sort of up and down. I think every game we play is still a learning experience...

“I should have made more. That’s why these games are important. This is a new way, I never really played with guys getting doubled like this. You need to use these games.”

Durant praised the 37-year-old 12-time All-Star point guard’s reading of the game.

He said: “We just need CP to read the game like he has since college, high school. Whatever the game tells him to do, he’s going to go out there and do it.”

Phoenix (45-35) made 17 threes to eight for Denver.

Said Nuggets coach Michael Malone: “I am happy and almost a little (ticked) because I thought we should have won. Our guys fought, competed, played their hearts out and gave us a chance to win.

“If you take away the three-point line, I think our defence was pretty good for most of the night.”

Denver shot 53 per cent from the field, including eight of 23 (34.8 per cent) from three-point range. The Suns made 51.9 per cent of their attempts and connected on 17 of 36 (47.2 per cent) from behind the arc.

Bruce Brown scored a career-high 31 points and Reggie Jackson added 20 points and six assists for Denver (52-28), who lost for the fourth time in five games. Christian Braun scored 15 points, Jeff Green had 14 and DeAndre Jordan registered 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Nuggets did not play any of their five starters one night after clinching the top seeding in the West when the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Jamal Murray (thumb) was out after getting injured on Tuesday, and two-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic (calf) sat out for the fourth time in five games. Also sidelined were Michael Porter Jr (heel), Aaron Gordon (shoulder) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (illness).

“We’re just trying to be smart about managing those injuries as we move forward,” Malone said before the game.

“Speaking to the players individually and speaking to our training staff, having played 79-80 games to this point, those guys have been dealing with these injuries for a while.

“We want to be smart about what kind of positions we put them in.”

Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro scored 24 points apiece to lead Miami to a 129-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers that kept the Heat in the hunt for direct entry into the play-offs.

Philadelphia centre Joel Embiid, coming off a 52-point performance in a hard-fought victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, scored 21 points and James Harden added 14.

With two games left, the Heat still have a chance to grab sixth place in the Eastern Conference from the Brooklyn Nets and avoid the play-in tournament for the seventh- through 10th-placed teams.

They will need help, however, since the Nets can lock up the spot with a win in either of their last two games, against the Orlando Magic on Friday and the 76ers on Sunday.

Said Herro: “Wherever we end up in the seedings, we’ll be all right. We like our chances.”

REUTERS, AFP