Suns 117, Magic 104: Booker's 30 and a 25-turnover feast snap Phoenix's skid
Devin Booker poured in 23 first-half points and Phoenix turned 25 Orlando giveaways into 36 points to end a four-game losing streak.
Phoenix needed a reset, and Orlando handed them one, 25 possessions at a time. A night after losing at home to Portland, the Suns beat the Magic 117-104 on Thursday, snapping a four-game losing streak behind 30 points from Devin Booker and a defense that forced 25 turnovers and cashed them in for 36 points.
Booker early, Brooks and the arc all night
Booker did most of his damage before the break, scoring 23 first-half points on 8-of-13 shooting and beating the halftime buzzer with a three that sent Phoenix in up 63-51. Dillon Brooks added 24 points with four threes, and the Suns finished 17-of-34 from deep — a 50% night from the arc that Orlando never matched.
The decisive stretch came in the third quarter, when Booker and Brooks hit back-to-back threes to stretch the lead to 78-60. Phoenix entered the fourth up 96-73, and Collin Gillespie's triple pushed the margin to 30 with 9:20 to play. Miles Bridges chipped in 18 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
Orlando's efficiency, undone by giveaways
The Magic got terrific individual nights — Wendell Carter Jr. had 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting with 13 rebounds, Franz Wagner posted a 15-point, 15-assist line, and Tristan da Silva scored 18 off the bench — and it barely mattered. Twenty-five turnovers will bury any shooting performance, and Orlando has now dropped three straight.
What it means
For Phoenix, this was the first exhale of a season-long seven-game homestand, which now sits at 1-1 with Houston visiting Saturday. For Orlando, the road trip rolls on to Golden State, where the fix is less about shot-making — the Magic shot well — and entirely about taking care of the ball.