It was not the prettiest win this season, but a win the day after Christmas and on the road is tough to do for any team in the NBA, and that is exactly what the Phoenix Suns did against the New Orleans Pelicans. Devin Booker scored 30 points on 10-of-16 from the field, grabbed nine rebounds, and dished out five assists in a gritty, sloppy, foul-heavy win, 115-108.
Mark Williams was a dominant physical force, with 24 points, 13 rebounds, two steals, and a block. When the Pelicans were doubling Booker
in the fourth quarter, Williams was the guy getting the ball in the short roll. He turned it over, trying to force-feed Dunn on a cut, but then decided to just attack the rim with aggression. He was fouled twice and converted six of his eight free throws, all in the fourth when the Suns needed him most.
The Suns took every punch from the Pelicans and fought to win this game. The Pelicans shot 42 free throws, but only made 25, leaving the door open for a Suns team that shot miserably from three, just 8-of-40.
Zion Williamson scored 20 points, while Jordan Poole and Trey Murphy III each scored 19 to lead New Orleans, who looked like they might pull out a win up 90-85 in the fourth quarter. Phoenix’s resiliency and toughness showed up late, when they needed it most.
Collin Gillespie scored 16 points, including the biggest shot of the game, after slipping on a wet spot and appearing to tweak his leg late in the third quarter. Ryan Dunn scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had the two biggest defensive plays of the game: a block on Zion Williamson with the Suns up 107-106 and a minute remaining, and then on the next possession, he walled up Poole and forced a turnover that led to a Booker to Williams alley-oop in transition to seal the win.
There were many times the Suns could have lost their poise and folded because of the officiating, all the missed wide-open threes, injuries, and the continual fight the Pelicans showed, but they never did, and that is why they won the first game of two against the Pelicans this weekend.
Game Flow
First Half
The Suns opened up the game on an 8-2 run, as Collin Gillespie got free for multiple 3-point makes early in the game. Booker was attacking the mismatch he had with Bryce McGowen, finding Mark Williams and Gillespie for wide-open shots early. Derik Queen, for the Pelicans, showed that he is still a very unpolished rookie, as he missed a wide-open three in the corner, threw up a wild layup that hit the top of the backboard, then turned it over in transition in three plays in a row.
The Suns, however, were unable to take advantage of the Pelicans due to their own sloppy play. Booker threw a pass to the corner to what should have been a wide-open Jordan Goodwin three, but instead went out of bounds. Then, later in the first quarter, Goodwin drove and threw the ball out to the corner that Ryan Dunn vacated to cut to the basket. The Suns still led 21-14 after a Booker midrange shot, but the Pelicans closed out the quarter with Zion Williamson taking advantage of the small Suns front line with Ighodaro and Dunn, and drew foul after foul to keep the Pelicans close.
The Suns had multiple opportunities to create separation from the Pelicans in the first period, but were not quite crisp enough to take advantage. It was not a lack of effort, though; they played with intensity and competitive fire, scoring 11 second-chance points alone in the first quarter. Jamaree Bouyea encapsulated it with his own drive, miss, rebound, and putback attempt that he was fouled on. The final minute of the quarter plagued the Suns. Oso Ighodaro fouled Jordan Poole on a 3-point attempt that resulted in a four-point play and the last play to end the quarter should have been a wide-open Oso Ighodaro dunk, but instead Gillespie’s pass was too high, resulting in another Suns turnover. The Suns led 26-23 after the first quarter.
The second quarter was better for the Suns, after seven turnovers in the first quarter they committed just one in the second. It started with a Poole three, who scored 11 first-half points to lead the Pelicans in scoring. On the other end, Ryan Dunn found a driving lane and dished to Ighodaro for a dunk. A few possessions later, Gillespie fell trying to take a charge on Jordan Poole and crashed into Dunn’s leg.
With Dunn out, Jordan Ott turned to the rookie, Rasheer Fleming, who flashed his upside and showcased why he has yet to earn consistent NBA minutes early in his career. In seven minutes of play, Fleming was 0-of-3 from three, all were wide open, showcasing that the Pelicans were more than willing to let him fire away. Defensively, he was engaged, but found himself out of position multiple times, and fouled Fears for being too physical, after he made a great play by making Fears pick up the ball.
On the positive side, his athleticism popped as he outran every Pelicans player for a transition layup, rebounded a Booker miss and put it back in for a layup, and had a nice finish in traffic on a nice feed from Goodwin. All in all, Fleming was +3 in his minutes and was a positive contributor in his first stint.
The other bright spot in the first half was the fantastic play of Mark Williams, who dominated the glass and the paint. He scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked one shot in the first half. He also produced one of the most spectacular plays of the season, this is an insane, whoopsie-daisy almost travel, self-lob off the backboard for a thunderous dunk.
The Suns led 53-48 at halftime after a dismal first half shooting from three, shooting just 21% on 5-of-24 from long range. The Suns’ offensive rebounding was both the key to their success in the first half, but also resulted in multiple Pelicans layups in transition because they were late getting back.
Second Half
The Suns opened the third quarter fast and looked poised to take control of the game. Booker found Williams off the pick and roll for a wide-open dunk, and then Williams outran Queen down the floor for a wide-open dunk on the secondary break to push the Suns ahead 60-52. Unlike the beginning of the season, these Pelicans did not roll over. Instead, they grit their teeth and found ways to stay in the game. The Suns led 63-54 when Booker turned the ball over, and Murphy finished with an incredible alley-oop layup. Then Murphy stole a casual Williams pass intend for Booker that resulted in a thunderous dunk on the other end.
After scoring two points in the first hal,f Brooks woke up and scored eight points in the third quarter. He and Murphy each picked up technical fouls for physical play and some extracurricular trash talking.
Then the refs started to call a lot of fouls. The Pelicans shot 16 free throws in the third quarter alone. The Suns’ peskiness and physicality resulted in multiple fouls in the backcourt, leading to free throw attempts for the Pelicans. Meanwhile, the Suns continued to generate open looks from three, but could not get many to fall.
The Suns still led wire to wire in the third quarter and again had the chance to separate from the Pelicans at the end of the period after a Dunn putback layup had the Suns up four, 79-75. But after getting a stop, Ighodaro fouled Yves Missi on an offensive rebound attempt, where Missi hit one of his two free throws. Dunn again got to the basket and finished with a beautiful layup at the basket to get Suns up five.
Gillespie then found a wet spot and slipped, appearing to injure his groin, as Williamson got an easy put-back dunk. After a wide-open miss from Goodwin, Poole found Missi for a wide-open dunk to cut the deficit to one. On offense, Dunn was whistled for a ticky-tack foul on a screen, and the Pelicans missed two free throws to close the quarter. Another sloppy quarter of basketball, and the Suns led 81-80, stuck in the mud and in a dog fight against the Pelicans.
The Pelicans had been fighting hard all night, and finally broke through early in the fourth quarter, taking a 90-85 lead early in the fourth quarter. A Murphy III three forced an Ott timeout, with Booker and Brooks checking in with nine minutes left in the fourth. The two Suns stars stopped the bleeding as Brooks hit an elbow jumper, and Booker drew multiple fouls in one possession and hit both free throws to cut the deficit to one, 90-89.
Booker continued to carry the Suns, getting to free throw line and getting to his midrange jumper to get the Suns a 96-95 lead. But the referees continued to call a tight game, and Booker was whistled for a technical foul after a driving layup, and the Pelicans quickly spurted to a 99-96 lead. Refusing to let Booker beat them anymore, the Pelicans doubled Booker almost the second he crossed halfcourt, but Mark Williams continued his dominance and beat the Pelicans inside with his brute strength and size. He scored seven of Phoenix’s nine points to boost the Suns ahead 105-102. The Pelicans kept on coming, with Poole and Williamson continuing to get downhill and score against the Suns’ defense.
Up 107-106 with 90 seconds to play, the Suns went to Gillespie with Booker getting swarmed, and Poole guarding Gillespie, the Suns decided Gillespie was going to win or lose the game. The Suns got exactly what they wanted as Gillespie diced up Poole and drove to the lane but he missed the easy layup. Then the hero of the game, Ryan Dunn, who exited the game in the first half and was in the game for O’Neale because of his defense and athleticism, blocked a Williamson layup attempt at the rim on the ensuing possession, then Williams miraculously grabbed the loose ball and threw it off a Pelicans player while falling out of bounds to get Phoenix the defensive stop and the ball.
Undeterred from his previous failure, Gillespie came off of a Booker screen, which the Pelicans refused to switch with Poole guarding Gillespie, so Gillespie calmly kept Poole on his back, discarded Poole, and laced a wide-open mid-range jumper to put the Suns up three, 109-106.
The Pelicans quickly got down the floor, and Dunn, who was guarding Poole, played perfect defense on the Pelicans guard. Dunn walled up, forced Poole into the air, and deflected Poole’s feeble attempt at a pass to a teammate. Brooks quickly got the outlet pass, kicked up ahead to a sprinting Booker, who found Williams for the alley-oop slam and a “boom room” exclamation point from Kevin Ray.
Up Next
Same team, same spot, Saturday evening at 5:00pm Arizona time at the Smoothie King Center.
