PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns extended their winning streak to three after dismantling the New Orleans Pelicans in 121-98 fashion at Mortgage Matchup Center.
It was one of the best nights of Grayson Allen’s career – as he set the Suns’ franchise record of three-pointers made at 10 while establishing a new career-high of 42 points.
He even got MVP chants while shooting free throws in the fourth quarter and received a standing ovation when exiting.
The Suns now move to 6-5 and above .500 on the season having won their last five-of-six.
Here’s how action unfolded:
Things were knotted up at 11-11 entering the first timeout with Devin Booker and Jeremiah Fears having six points each. Phoenix started the game 1-6 from the field.
Eventually the Suns climbed into the lead and settled in from there, establishing a 29-22 advantage after the first. Mark Williams finished with four rebounds in the quarter while Phoenix converted just 2-11 from deep.
The Suns found their first double digit lead early in the second thanks to a quick 11-3 run propelled by a pair of Allen threes, forcing Pelicans coach Willie Green to call a timeout.
Minutes later, the Suns capped a 22-5 run to push their advantage to 20 points.
Phoenix eventually would enter halftime up 64-41 thanks to 18 points from Allen and 16 assists as a team. New Orleans shot below 40% from the field.
The Suns played 11 players in the first half.
Phoenix’s advantage reached 30+ in the opening minutes of the third, carrying a 73-41 lead into the first timeout.
New Orleans switched to a zone defense in an attempt to slow down Phoenix’s offense, which did help trim their deficit down to 25 before Jordan Ott called a timeout.
Allen crossed his season-high of 29 points with seven minutes left in the third, ultimately finishing the third with 35 points while no other played had more than 19 (which was Booker).
The Suns moved into the fourth quarter with a 96-72 lead.
The fourth quarter saw a frenzy of buckets early on made by Allen to cross the 40-point threshold for just the second time in his career. Phoenix carried a 103-82 lead at the 8:00 timeout.
At that point, the Suns began to rotate some of their bench players into action – which also saw rookies Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach make a cameo.
Phoenix’s large advantage proved to be far too much for New Orleans to overcome, as the Suns comfortably found their way to the final buzzer.
Ahead of action tonight, Suns coach Jordan Ott gave the following update on injured guard Jalen Green:
“Obviously he’s out tonight. I think where we’re at right now is he’s going through multiple tests to see exactly what’s going on. So [he’s] out tonight, we’ll give you further updates when we get them, as soon as we get them,” said Ott.
“He’s had testing – that’s where we’ll be. I think it’s going to be a little bit till we gather all the information. So he’s obviously gone under testing.
“I think we’ll take all the information that we can get at this point. When these things happen I think you look at everything. So it’ll be a little bit of time. That’s why we want to give some grace here, just a little bit of time till we gather all the information so we get it out to you to know exactly what’s going on.”
