NEW ORLEANS — Devin Booker scored a season-high 52 points in 37 minutes on the court and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Pelicans 123-109 on Friday night for the second straight 50-point game against New Orleans. We won 4 games in a row.
Booker, who scored 25 points in the first quarter, was last in the Suns' lineup against New Orleans and scored 58 points in a win at Phoenix on Dec. 17, 2022.
On Friday, he was 18-of-30 from the field, 6-of-11 from threes and 10 of his free throws.
Booker reached 50 points for the sixth time in his career.
He scored a career-high 70 points on March 24, 2017 in Boston.
For Phoenix, Kevin Durant scored 26 points and Jusuf Nurkic grabbed 15 rebounds.
The Suns shot 49.5 percent (46-of-93) and led by 30 points at the half.
Zion Williamson scored 24 points for the Pelicans, but his shooting was poor and he was unable to catch up with Booker and others.
New Orleans missed 32-of-42 3-pointers, two nights after making a franchise-record 25 from deep in a blowout win over Charlotte.
The arena was packed to the top of the upper deck for what appeared to be a matchup between teams rising in the Western Conference standings.
Buoyed by the opening tip, the crowd erupted when Ingram hit a 15-foot pull-up in the opening minute for the first points of the game.
This was the Pelicans' biggest lead they saw all night, but it was short-lived.
Booker responded with a 3, making nine of his first 11 shots with a pull-up, turnaround, fade, floater and three threes, reaching 25 points by the end of the first quarter.
In contrast, the Pelicans missed 17 of their first 19 3-pointers.
Phoenix led by 23 points in the second quarter, but the Pelicans went on a 7-0 run with a three-run homer from Trey Murphy III and an alley-oop dunk from Williamson, and managed to cut the deficit to 17 points by halftime at 69-52. Shrunk.
How the Suns won. Getty Images
But Booker, who played high school in Moss Point, Mississippi, tried to curtail any momentum the Pelicans might have gained in the second half.
He scored 20 points in the third quarter, giving the Suns a 100-80 lead heading into the final period.
