DEVIN Booker recorded 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 99-90 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers in the opening game of the Western Conference first-round series on Sunday afternoon (Monday in Manila).
Deandre Ayton added 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and collected 16 rebounds for the second-seeded Suns, who were playing in their first postseason game since 2010.
LeBron James had 18 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for the seventh-seeded Lakers.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in Phoenix.
Suns star Chris Paul played 36 minutes and had seven points and eight assists. Paul injured his right shoulder in the second quarter when teammate Cameron Johnson clipped his arm. Paul missed parts of the second and third quarters.
Dennis Schroder scored 14 points for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis had 13 on just 5-of-16 shooting and Andre Drummond and Montrezl Harrell added 12 apiece for the Lakers.
In other games, it was the Grizzlies 112, Jazz 109; Sixers 125, Wizards 118; and Hawks 107, Knicks 105.
Grizzlies 112, Jazz 109
Dillon Brooks scored 31 points and Ja Morant added 26 to lead the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies to a huge road upset win over the No. 1 Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
The young Grizzlies fell behind by 14 points in the first half, rallied to jump ahead by 17 points early in the fourth quarter and then held on to win on the top-seeded team’s home court just two days after earning a spot in the playoffs. While Utah rested, the Grizzlies had to beat San Antonio and Golden State in the NBA’s new play-in tournament to qualify.
The Jazz were short-handed after All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell (ankle sprain) was ruled out of the game in the afternoon. Former Grizzlies guard Mike Conley played well for the Jazz with 22 points and 11 assists, and Bojan Bogdanovic lit up to score 29 points– all in the second half– to lead Utah.
Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Anderson added 14 points and six steals for a Grizzlies squad that is playing in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Sixers 125, Wizards 118
Tobias Harris set a playoff career high with 37 points to help host and top-seeded Philadelphia hold off eighth-seeded Washington in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Harris scored the most points by a 76er in the first half of a playoff game (28) since Allen Iverson’s 30-point, first-half performance in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Joel Embiid finished with 30 points and six rebounds in just 30 minutes after battling early foul trouble.
Bradley Beal paced the Wizards with 33 points and 10 rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 16 points, 14 assists and five rebounds, Davis Bertans added 14 points and Rui Hachimura, Alex Len, and Daniel Gafford each scored 12.
