Surging Suns out to extend recent dominance of Bulls

The Phoenix Suns are hitting their stride and the club's Big Three are leading the way.

Suddenly hot Phoenix aims to post its sixth consecutive victory when it hosts the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.

Outside of a seven-game winning streak in November, the Suns have been an inconsistent squad falling short of expectations. But with Bradley Beal now healthy, the trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Beal are clicking and the wins are following.

The threesome combined for 91 points for the second straight game when Phoenix registered a 117-110 home win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. Durant led the way with 40 points, Booker scored 26 and Beal scored 25.

Durant reached 40 on stellar 18-of-25 shooting, making 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

"I felt good all night. My teammates were finding me. Glad we got a win," Durant said afterward. "We want to build continuity, build chemistry every day, and being available is the first part of it. We've got to keep building good habits as well and play hard together."

In Friday night's 123-109 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans, Booker was the headliner with a season-best 52 points.

"It's the definition of pick your poison," Booker said after the win over Indiana. "All of us coming in with an aggressive mindset, it'll be hard to stop us. Especially late game with the spacing out there."

Beal, who was acquired from the Washington Wizards in the offseason, played in just six of Phoenix's first 30 games due to back and ankle injuries.

But since returning from the ankle injury on Dec. 29, Beal has topped 20 points in seven of 12 games. He scored 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting against the Pacers.

Now the trio looks to help Phoenix beat the Bulls for the ninth consecutive time. Chicago hasn't defeated the Suns since notching a 116-101 win at Phoenix on March 18, 2019.

The Bulls have won their last two games and six of the past eight as they embark on a three-game Western trip.

Chicago rolled to a 125-96 home victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday despite playing without Zach LaVine. The star guard sprained his right ankle during Thursday's 116-110 road win over the Toronto Raptors.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan declined to project how long LaVine will be sidelined despite reports claiming the two-time All-Star will miss one to two weeks.

"It's going to be how he responds," Donovan said of LaVine. "He certainly has swelling in his ankle. That's pretty clear. I don't want to put a timeline on him because I just don't know how long ankle sprains take to heal.

"For him, I feel bad. He had several weeks where he was dealing with his foot, got through that, got back (Jan. 5) and now this has happened and he'll be out for a little bit. I know he's always disappointed about not being able to play."

Chicago went 10-7 when LaVine sat out 17 games with the foot injury.

Ayo Dosunmu scored 20 points to pace the Bulls against Memphis and DeMar DeRozan added 18. Overall, seven Bulls scored in double digits.

"Played with a lot of joy," DeRozan said afterward. "We love seeing each other thrive and just being successful. It was big, especially with Zach being out. All the guys stepped up, everyone came up big.

"It was a good win for us, it was fun. Now time to go on the road to get some wins."

Though the Bulls are just 7-13 on the road, they have won three of their past four away contests.

—Field Level Media