PHOENIX — Guard Monta Ellis scored 20 points, forward Paul George added 19 and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game losing streak by outlasting the injury-riddled Phoenix Suns 97-94 Tuesday night.
Forward Myles Turner contributed 15 points and guard Joe Young had 11 off the bench for the Pacers, who hadn’t won since beating the Suns 116-97 in Indiana on Jan. 12.
Rookie guard Devin Booker had a career-high 32 points including six 3-pointers for the Suns, who lost their fifth in a row and 14th in the past 15 games. And things got a lot worse for Phoenix on Tuesday.
Already without leading scorer Eric Bledsoe and backup point guard Ronnie Price, the Suns lost all three of their power forwards over the space of an hour.
Jon Leuer experienced back spasms in warmups and couldn’t play. Markieff Morris sustained a right shoulder strain in the second quarter, and Mirza Teletovic was lost to an ankle sprain in the third quarter.
Phoenix committed 22 turnovers, including 13 in the first half that led to 27 Indiana points. however, the Suns, who trailed by 20 points in the third quarter and by 16 with 6:12 left, didn’t quit.
Forward P.J. Tucker hit a 3-pointer and Booker hit two more, cutting Indiana’s lead to 90-85 with 55.5 seconds left.
Ellis used the shot clock and ended the 15-4 Phoenix run with a 19-footer with 39.4 seconds to go. The Suns pushed back within 95-92 on a 3-pointer by guard Brandon Knight (21 points) with three seconds left.
Ellis sealed the game with two free throws with two seconds to go.
Indiana (23-19) lost center Ian Mahinmi when he aggravated a left ankle sprain late in the second quarter.
The Suns (13-30) scored the first basket of the game — a 3-pointer by Booker 33 seconds in — but the rest of the half was a titanic struggle. They had more turnovers (13) than baskets (12) and shot 32 percent from the field in the two quarters.
The Pacers shot 44 percent and had eight turnovers themselves, but it was more than enough to build a lead.
For the game, Indiana outshot Phoenix from the floor, 41 percent to 31.6 percent.
NOTES: Indiana G Glenn Robinson III started in place of George Hill, who missed the game for personal reasons. Robinson scored 10 points. … Suns F Mira Teletovic has made 91 3-pointers off the bench this season, tops among NBA reserves. Teletovic is on pace to break the franchise record of 150 set by Danny Ainge in 1992-93, when the Suns reached the NBA Finals. … The Suns got C Alex Len back after he missed three games with a left hand sprain, but Tyson Chandler started in the middle for Phoenix. … Phoenix allowed an average of 113.4 points over the previous seven games. … Suns F Jon Leuer missed the game with back spasms that cropped up after warmups.