Devin Booker scored 12 fourth-quarter points and Mark Williams added 10 in the period as the visiting Phoenix Suns held off the New Orleans Pelicans 115-108 on Friday.
Booker, who finished with a game-high 30 points, and Williams, who scored 24 points, buoyed Phoenix in a tightly contested final period, including the decisive 18-8 run over the closing 4:49.
Williams scored nine of his points over the final 4:20, including throwing down an exclamation point alley-oop dunk off a Booker assist that gave the Suns an insurmountable, two-possession lead down the stretch.
The assist was the last of five on the night for Booker, who also grabbed nine rebounds. Williams had a 13-rebound effort on his way to a double-double.
New Orleans locked down Williams, the Suns’ big man, in the third quarter and for the first half of the fourth but could not contain him late. In addition to his lob dunk from Booker, Williams rocked the rim off an alley-oop from Collin Gillespie — one of nine assists for the guard.
Gillespie also gave Phoenix a 3-point shooting threat to counter Dillon Brooks, Royce O’Neale, Booker, Jordan Goodwin and Ryan Dunn combining to shoot just 4-of-25 from beyond the arc. Gillespie hit as many as all of them combined, going 4-for-9 from long distance on the way to 16 points.
The Pelicans were unable to capitalize on holding Phoenix to a collective 8-of-40 performance shooting from beyond the arc, as New Orleans finished just 5-for-25 on 3-point attempts.
Despite scoring 19 points off the bench, Pelicans guard Jordan Poole shot 2-for-11 from deep. Poole also went 3-for-6 at the foul line, and New Orleans finished a dismal 25-for-42 (59.5%) at the charity stripe.
Phoenix shook off a slow start from the free-throw line in its own right, going 10-for-11 late to finish 19-for-25 (76%) for the game.
Zion Williamson led the Pelicans with 20 points, contributing to New Orleans’ 60 bench points for the game. Jose Alvarado added 11 in reserve duty.
Trey Murphy III, the only New Orleans starter to score in double figures, finished with 19 points. Murphy also came away with four steals.
–Field Level Media
