By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers (13-10) were unable to contain Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns (9-16) on Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center, falling by a final score of 115-101. After a close first quarter, the Sixers were outscored by 13 in the second, putting themselves in a hole at halftime. They were able to shave the lead down to five late in the fourth, but Suns phenom Devin Booker took over from there.
Booker followed up a 38-point game against Boston over the weekend with a 46-point performance against the Sixers. The 21-year-old guard out of Kentucky shot 17-for-32 from the floor and 5-for-8 from three and also grabbed eight boards. T.J. Warren finished with 25 points and eight rebounds while Tyson Chandler tallied 12 boards and Tyler Ulis dished out 12 assists. An all-around strong effort from a Suns team not known for shooting well. They shot 48.4 percent from the floor tonight and 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Overall, the Sixers played sloppily tonight, turning the ball over 14 times resulting in 22 points for the Suns. In addition to turnovers, Philadelphia couldn't overcome poor shooting from beyond the arc, knocking down just seven of 30 from beyond the arc. J.J. Redick caught fire from the floor late, scoring a game-high 25, but missed seven of 10 from three-point range. 21 of Redick's 25 points came after halftime. Robert Covington struggled from downtown as well, going 2-for-10 and 3-for-13 overall from the floor.
Meanwhile, despite having the flu, Ben Simmons had a strong performance, finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals. Joel Embiid contributed with a 22 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and two assists. The Sixers bench was a let-down, as four players scored just 14 points in combined 70 minutes on the floor. The team is clearly missing T.J. McConnell as a spark plug off the bench. He's hopefully returning on Thursday.
Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid came out playing well, scoring eight each in the first quarter. The Suns went on an 8-2 run to get an early lead on the Sixers, but Philadelphia battled back to tie things at 28 after the first 12 minutes. Phoenix began to pull away in the second quarter, with the Sixers playing sloppy basketball, as the Suns extended their lead to 14 thanks to a 21-9 run. The Suns ended up outscoring the Sixers 32-19 in the second quarter to head into the half with a comfortable 60-47 lead. The Sixers shot just 7-for-23 in the second quarter.
Philadelphia made some headway in the third, cutting the lead to as little as seven, but Devin Booker's and-1 at the end of the third kept the Suns ahead by 10, 89-79. In the fourth, the Sixers chipped away at the lead as a Simmons steal and bucket combined with a Redick triple brought them back to within six. J.J. cut the lead to five with just under five minutes to play in this one, but Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker hit back-to-back triples to put Phoenix back up by 11 with 3:29 to go in the game. Booker hit another contested three on the Suns next possession to extend the lead to 14. The Sixers wouldn't get any closer as Devin Booker tacked on some more points to his final line, sealing the win for the Suns.
Up Next:
The Sixers have the next two days off before hosting the Lakers on Thursday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on TNT.
