CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Isaac Okoro and the Cavs gave the Suns their best shot.
They took one of the league’s best to overtime and came away with more ping pong balls in the lottery hopper following a game that saw 10 lead changes and 15 ties.
Okoro scored a career-high 32 points but the Cavs wilted in overtime as Phoenix left town with a 134-118 victory Tuesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“I think we ran out of gas, to be honest,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
Devin Booker led the Suns, who outscored Cleveland 20-4 in overtime, with 31 while Chris Paul added 23 and Mikal Bridges 22 in the victory for Phoenix, who is competing for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Okoro shot 10-16 from the field, made all nine of his free throws while adding six assists and three rebounds in the seventh straight loss for Cleveland and the 10th in 11 games.
“It was just me being more aggressive tonight,” Okoro said. “Just looking to attack the paint, looking to get to the lane and getting to the free throw line and finding my teammates.”
The scoring barrage by the rookie didn't surprise Bickerstaff, who has backed and pushed Okoro this season.
“We have high hopes for Isaac, so I don’t want to say I’m surprised,” Bickerstaff said. “What I am surprised by is that at such a young age he’s unfazed.
“Hopefully today was a stepping stone for him in the right direction.”
Collin Sexton added 29 to go with seven rebounds and assists while Jarrett Allen had 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Kevin Love pulled down 11 boards and scored seven.
“He carried us,” Sexton said of Okoro's performance. “He definitely carried us down the stretch, especially when we weren’t making any shots, he brought the energy that we needed. You can just see him getting better each and every game.”
Phoenix ended the opening quarter with an 11-4 run to take a 30-24 lead thanks to 15 from Booker while Okoro led Cleveland with 10.
Three-point shooting kept the Cavs in it in the first half.
Cleveland hit 7-16 from deep in the first 24 minutes, including a pair of hits from Osman and Okoro while the Suns made just 4-14 from beyond the arc.
The Suns scored the final 7 aided by a Paul 3 and technical free throw after Love was T’d up for arguing a no foul call with less than 30 seconds left in the second quarter to lead 59-53 at half.
After trailing by as many as 12, the Cavs rallied in the third quarter and were down by just 2 after 3, 90-88.
The final minute of the fourth quarter was wild.
Okoro tied the game at 112 with a lay in and free throw on a foul by Booker with 59.1 on the clock. Booker untied it with a drive to the basket as the shot clock wound down and then Okoro responded with another bucket with 24.9 remaining. Booker’s prayer from the corner barely grazed the rim at the buzzer sending the game to overtime tied at 114.
“Each and every possession we continued to fight to the end,” Sexton said. “We didn’t make it easy for them.”
The Suns scored 15 straight to open overtime before a Sexton dunk off a pass from Love ended the run, but the game was already decided.
