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The Phoenix Suns (2-5) didn’t beat the Orlando Magic (2-6) 117-104 on Thursday night because one man got hot. They beat them passing — 30 assists on 45 made baskets, the ball moving the way it hadn’t moved during the four-game losing streak that came before it.

Jordan Ott explained why afterward. “The ball was moving,” he said. “The ball moves easier when you get to play out in transition or play off a defensive rebound.” That’s the chain: the Suns held Orlando down, rebounded, ran — and a defense that has to chase a moving ball breaks. Devin Booker had eight of the assists to go with his 30 points. Miles Bridges and Collin Gillespie had five apiece.

Booker felt the whole of it, not just one end. “Tonight was the closest I’d say we put a full 48 minutes together,” he said. “So, something to build on.” And he singled out Gillespie, the backup guard who ran the second unit like a starter: “He’s a general out there… He demands respect.”

Ott was just as clear about where it started — the other end. Fourteen steals.

“Defensively is where we got to hang our hat,” he said. The assists were the product; the defense was the cause.

And Ott owned the one change that framed the night, Oso Ighodaro starting at center over Khaman Maluach. “Just making an adjustment to change things up,” he said. “We’ll keep trying to find it.”

Booker already had his eyes on the next one: “Houston would be a great test for us Saturday.” The Rockets come in 7-2, and they swept the Suns last season. If the ball moves like this again, it’s a game.

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© Old Town News Scottsdale — oldtownnews.us

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry scored 22 of his 29 points in the second half, and the Golden State Warriors (6-3) beat the Miami Heat (3-6) 120-100 on Thursday night at Chase Center, their sixth straight win after an 0-3 start to the season.

For a half, it wasn’t there. Curry had seven points on 2-of-10 shooting, Miami matched everything, and the game was tied 53-53 at halftime. The Heat even led 61-58 early in the third quarter on a Klay Thompson jumper.

Then Curry took it. He scored 14 in the third quarter, 11 of them in an 18-3 run that broke the game open, and the Warriors outscored Miami 38-23 in the third and 67-47 in the second half. He finished 9-for-19 with six three-pointers in 28 minutes, sat out the end of a blowout one point short of a fourth straight 30-point game, and passed Oscar Robertson for 17th place on the NBA’s career scoring list with a three-pointer in the first quarter.

Yaxel Lendeborg gave the Warriors 17 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Draymond Green scored just two points and ran the night anyway — a season-high 11 assists, and the defense that held Giannis Antetokounmpo to 20 points. Georges Niang scored 13 off the bench, and Will Richard and Brandon Williams scored 10 apiece.

Miami was playing the second night of a back-to-back after the overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers, and it showed after halftime. Davion Mitchell led the Heat with 22.  points and eight assists, Antetokounmpo had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Thompson, back at Chase Center for the first time as a Heat player and greeted with a warm ovation before tipoff, scored 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting, and Andrew Wiggins scored 2.

The Warriors’ defense was the difference under everything: 22 forced turnovers, turned into 28 points, against a tired team that stopped taking care of the ball once the third-quarter run hit.

Up next: the Warriors host the Orlando Magic on Saturday.

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TUCSON — Motiejus Krivas scored a career-high 30 points, and the No. 5 Arizona Wildcats (1-1) beat the Cal Poly Mustangs (1-1) 104-84 on Thursday night at McKale Center in their home opener.

Three nights after UCLA collapsed on Krivas, held him to four shots and eight points and beat Arizona in Las Vegas, the Wildcats fed him from the start. He made 10 of 13 shots, hit 10 of 12 free throws and grabbed eight rebounds, and Arizona owned the paint, 56-26.

Cal Poly actually led 16-15 early. Then Arizona ran off a 27-7 run, scored 19 points off Cal Poly’s 14 first-half turnovers, and led 59-41 at halftime — the Wildcats’ biggest first half since the 2023-24 opener. Four Wildcats were already in double figures. In the second half, a 12-0 run — eight of the points from Krivas — pushed it to 85-56 with 7:20 left, and the game was done.

Ivan Kharchenkov followed his 38-point opener with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. Freshman Caleb Holt scored 21 points with eight rebounds, and freshman 

Cameron Holmes added 13.

The numbers tell the same story as the paint: Arizona shot 54.5 percent to Cal Poly’s 43.9, outrebounded the Mustangs 44 to 30, and turned defense into points — 14 steals and 25 points off 19 Cal Poly turnovers. Hamad Mousa was the one Mustang who hurt them, scoring 30 points on 8-of-10 shooting from three.

Up next: Arizona hosts Northern Arizona on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

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TEMPE — Two games into the season, the Arizona State Sun Devils (2-0) have a saying for what they are, and it came straight out of the locker room.

“Any given night, it can be any player who steps up,” head coach Molly Miller said after Thursday’s 79-52 win over Northern Arizona. “If it’s not your turn to score night one, it might be your turn to score night two.”

Night two belonged to Ruby Whitehorn — 25 points and 10 rebounds — and Miller was quick to say the scoring is the smallest part of it. “She’s the all-around player. She can rebound, she can defend, she can distribute, she can score. She can post up little guards, she can rip and get to the rim.”

Whitehorn proved the point herself. Late in the game, with her career high of 29 points in reach, she was watching the other column. “They were worried about me getting my career high, which is 29,” she said. “At the time I still had eight rebounds, and I wanted those two boards more than I wanted those four points.”

The night’s one blemish — a 20-point second quarter given up to Northern Arizona after allowing 10 in the first — got the halftime message. “Defend better, defend, defend, defend, and then rebound,” Miller said. “That was just the messaging. It was a quick message, and then back to warmups, and then prove that we can defend and we can get stops.” They did: 10 points allowed in the third quarter.  

Madi Morson said the standard is set before the game ever starts. “Single-digit quarters is our goal, for whoever we’re playing.”

And the loose balls belong to Arizona State — by house rule. “We have a saying: every 50/50 ball is 100% ours,” Miller said. “If there’s a ball on the floor, we’re diving for it. If there’s a ball up in the air, we’re jumping for it.”

The Sun Devils take it on the road Tuesday at UNLV, where a former Sun Devil now plays for the Lady Rebels. Whitehorn had the last word on that one: “She’s a hustler, she’s competitive, she’s gritty on defense. But I hate to break it to you — she chose the wrong school to go back to. See you on Tuesday.”

Quotes from the Sun Devil Women’s Basketball Postgame Media Availability.

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PHOENIX — Devin Booker scored 30 points, and the Phoenix Suns (2-5) beat the Orlando Magic (2-6) 117-104 on Thursday night at Mortgage Matchup Center, snapping the Suns’ four-game losing streak in the second game of a back-to-back.

Booker decided this one early. He scored 12 in the first quarter — a pair of threes, perfect at the line — and 11 more in the second, going to halftime with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting as the Suns built a 63-51 lead. He finished 11-for-22 with four threes, eight assists and three steals. The Suns took the lead for good in the first quarter and led 96-73 after three, pushing it to 30 early in the fourth.

Dillon Brooks scored 24 points with four threes, and Miles Bridges gave the Suns 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Luke Kennard scored 12 off the bench.

The Suns won this game with the pass. Phoenix had 30 assists on 45 made baskets — two out of every three Suns baskets came off an assist — to Orlando’s 28. Booker led it with eight, Miles Bridges and Luke Kennard had five apiece, and the ball movement is what produced the shooting night: 17 made threes, because Orlando spent the game chasing the ball from shooter to shooter.

Orlando was short-handed — no Paolo Banchero, no Jalen Suggs, no Jonathan Isaac — and still won the glass and the free-throw line. Wendell Carter Jr. led the Magic with 27 points and 13 rebounds, Franz Wagner had 15 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds, and Desmond Bane scored 15. The Magic outrebounded the Suns by 15 and shot 11 more free throws.

It didn’t matter, because Orlando couldn’t hold the ball. The Magic turned it over 25 times, and the Suns buried them from three — 17 made threes, four each from Booker and Brooks, three from Bridges. Orlando won the fourth quarter 31-21 against the deep bench, but the 23-point hole after three was the game.

Up next: the Suns continue their seven-game homestand Saturday against the Houston Rockets.

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© Old Town News Scottsdale — oldtownnews.us

DETROIT — Trevor Connelly scored with 1:42 left in the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights (11-5-2) came back to beat the Detroit Red Wings (7-7-3) 2-1 on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.

Nobody scored for two periods, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on Vegas’s part. The Golden Knights dominated the shots, 34 to 26, and the faceoffs, winning 55.6 percent — but Daniil Tarasov stopped everything, 32 saves in all, including five on Jack Eichel alone, and carried a shutout into the third.

Detroit scored first, at 2:02 of the third. Carter Mazur ripped a shot that was deflected wide, the puck came off the end boards and out front, and Anton Johansson put it in off Carter Hart’s catching glove for his second career goal, with Mazur and Sheldon Dries assisting. Vegas answered two minutes later, at 4:20 — Braeden Bowman tied it 1-1 with a snap shot that hit Tarasov’s left shoulder and went in, his fourth goal, set up by Tomas Hertl and Victor Olofsson.

The third period had one more twist before the winner. Detroit was killing an Andrew Copp penalty when Mark Stone was called, and the Red Wings kept the puck and ate the rest of their own penalty before letting Vegas touch it, so they got a full power play with no four-on-four in between. They couldn’t score on it. Neither team scored on the power play all night — Vegas went 0-for-3 and Detroit 0-for-2.

Connelly won it at 18:18, powering through the Red Wings defense and firing from the left circle, unassisted. It was his seventh goal of the season, and he has now scored in

TEMPE — Ruby Whitehorn scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Arizona State Sun Devils (2-0) beat the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (0-1) 79-52 on Thursday night at Desert Financial Arena.

Whitehorn set the tone early — it was her quarter in the first, with Arizona State up 21-8 on the way to a 25-10 lead. Northern Arizona took the second quarter 20-13 to cut it to 38-30 at halftime, but the Sun Devils put the game away with a 24-10 third quarter and closed it 17-12 in the fourth. Arizona State led for 98 percent of the game, never trailed, and pushed the lead to 30.

Rashunda Jones gave the Sun Devils 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Madi Morson scored 9, and Heloisa Carrera, McKinna Brackens and Ayanna-Sarai Darrington scored 8 apiece — Brackens added 6 rebounds and 4 assists, and Darrington’s 8 came off the bench. Averie Lower scored 6 on two three-pointers.

For Northern Arizona, Layla Davis and Aaliyah Smith scored 10 apiece, Smith’s off the bench. Madison Hawkins had 9 points and 5 assists in 38 minutes, and Alondra Lizama had 9 points and 6 rebounds.

The game was won inside and on the glass. Arizona State shot 48 percent (31-for-64) to Northern Arizona’s 33 percent (19-for-58), outrebounded the Lumberjacks 45 to 32, and passed it better — 17 assists to 10 — while turning it over only 9 times to Northern Arizona’s 13. The Sun Devils also shot 76 percent at the line (13-for-17) to Northern Arizona’s 60 percent (9-for-15). Northern Arizona actually shot the three better, 28 percent (5-for-18) to 22 percent (4-for-18) — it didn’t matter, because Arizona S owned everything closer to the basket.

Whitehorn said in her postgame interview with Alex Coil and Kelly Burke on the ESPN+ broadcast that the spring with this team is why she was ready: “It’s just been amazing to be able to come in and learn the system early.” And on a roster where the scoring can come from anywhere: “It’ll be someone else’s night every night. It’s just going to be somebody different every time, and I think that’s what makes us the most dangerous. They came in ready to work.”

Up next: Arizona State plays Tuesday at UNLV, 7:30 p.m. Phoenix time.

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MONTREAL — Logan Cooley had a hat trick and a four-point night, but Cole Caufield scored early in overtime and the Montreal Canadiens (10-3-3) beat the Utah Mammoth (10-6-1) 5-4 on Thursday night at the Bell Centre.

Cooley put Utah ahead less than two minutes in, taking the puck in his own end, skating the length of the ice past Adam Engstrom and Arber Xhekaj, and beating Jakub Dobes with a backhand. Cooley scored again on the power play, taking a feed from Nick Schmaltz — two goals in the first period on his way to the hat trick — and the Mammoth led 2-0 before the game was ten minutes old.

Montreal answered before the period ended. Nick Suzuki, playing his first game back from injury, finished in front to cut it to 2-1, and Xhekaj tied it 2-2 with a shot from the point that was measured as the hardest shot to produce a goal in the league this season.

Cooley finished his hat trick on the power play in the second period — Clayton Keller to Schmaltz to Cooley in front — and Utah carried a 3-2 lead into the third. It was Cooley’s fifth career hat trick and his second in three games, and he added an assist for a four-point night.

The third period went back and forth. Kirby Dach, also returning to the lineup, tied it 3-3 on the power play with his first goal of the season. Schmaltz put Utah back in front 4-3 with the Mammoth’s third power-play goal of the night, Cooley starting the play. But Engstrom — the defenseman Cooley had skated around on the opening goal — tied it 4-4 late with a wrist shot, the first goal of his NHL career, and Caufield ended it in overtime.

The numbers explain how Utah nearly won a game it was outplayed in. Montreal outshot the Mammoth 35 to 20 and won 57 percent of the faceoffs, but Sebastian Cossa made 30 saves to keep Utah in front, and the Mammoth’s power play went 3-for-5 while Montreal’s went 1-for-4. Utah also outhit the Canadiens 30 to 17 and led in blocked shots 15 to 14. Dobes made 16 saves for the win. Suzuki finished with a goal and two assists for Montreal, and Dach had a goal and an assist.  Up next: the Mammoth finish their road trip Saturday at the Ottawa Senators, and the Canadiens play Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Up next: the Mammoth finish their road trip Saturday at the Ottawa Senators, and the Canadiens play Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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SCOTTSDALE — Drake’s Hollywood opens Friday, Nov. 6, at 3828 N Scottsdale Rd. in Old Town — an Old Hollywood-inspired steakhouse and cocktail lounge built on timeless glamour, bold flavors and energy. (We mentioned Drake’s Hollywood last week in an article about Drake.)

The menu runs to dry-aged steaks, A5 Wagyu, lobster spaghetti, the famous spicy rigatoni, the World’s Coldest Martini and Drake’s iconic 24-layer strawberry cake. Inside, it’s plush red leather booths, dramatic lighting and a lively bar scene — a place made for date nights, birthdays, anniversaries and nights that deserve a little more than dinner, with classic cocktails and an atmosphere that’s set to get better as the night goes on.

Scottsdale has already found it. The restaurant was booked 142 times today on OpenTable, and the next available table is Monday, Nov. 9, at 4 p.m. — opening weekend is gone. Online reservations are for parties of six or fewer; for parties of eight or more, email scottsdaleevents@drakeshollywood.com about group dining and private events. (The club side is members-only — you have to sign up as a club member, or call ahead, before you go.)

Local companies: if you have news releases, building opportunities or something going on in Scottsdale we are not aware of, send it to asifmalk988@gmail.com.

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© Old Town News Scottsdale — oldtownnews.us