On Friday night, the hot-shooting Phoenix Suns upset the host New Orleans Pelicans 123-109 behind a season-high 52 points from Devin Booker.

January 20 – On Friday night, the hot-shooting Phoenix Suns upset the host New Orleans Pelicans 123-109 behind a season-high 52 points from Devin Booker.

Booker, who last season scored fifty-eight points in a game against the Pelicans, made 18 of 30 field goals, six of which came from three-point range, and he converted all ten of his free throw attempts. He scored 70 points, his career high, against the Boston Celtics in 2017.
The Suns won their eighth game in a row with 26 points from Kevin Durant, 13 from Bradley Beal, 12 from Grayson Allen, and 5 from Jusuf Nurkic who finished with 15 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 points.

New Orleans led the way with 24 points from Zion Williamson, 17 points and 11 assists from Brandon Ingram, 16 points and 11 rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas, and 13 points apiece from CJ McCollum and Jordan Hawkins. Prior to this, New Orleans had won eight of its previous 11 games.
The Pelicans only sunk 10 of their 42 3-point attempts on Friday, after making a franchise-high 25 3-pointers (on 47 attempts) in a 20-point victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.

Early in the third quarter, Phoenix increased their 17-point lead at halftime to 84-58 thanks to 10 points from Booker and 5 from Durant. In the fourth quarter, the Suns’ lead reached thirty points.
Phoenix was equally hot to start versus New Orleans. Phoenix overcame a 22-point deficit in the last nine minutes of the game to defeat the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday by finishing on a 32-8 surge.
The Suns jumped off to a 31-20 advantage, with Booker scoring eight of the team’s first nine points and finishing with 15.

After his 3-pointer gave Phoenix its largest lead at 15 points, he scored 25 points. At the end of the first quarter, Williamson’s layup cut the deficit to 41-28.
Early in the second quarter, Beal scored nine points during a 14-4 run that increased the Suns’ advantage to 55-32.
Phoenix went up by twenty-three points four more times before the Pelicans closed the deficit to 69-52 at the half.
–Media at the Field Level.