Devin Booker had a night to remember as he exploded for 52 points en route to the Phoenix Suns holding on to a 124-111 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Kevin Durant scored 20 points and Jusuf Nurkić added 19 for the Suns (44-32). Nurkic posted a double-double as he also collected 19 rebounds in Phoenix’s victory.
Zion Williamson led the Pelicans (45-30) in points with 30 while Trey Murphy III had 21.
The Book Show
Setting the net on fire, Booker scored 24 points from 8-of-10 shooting and went 5-for-7 from three in just the first quarter alone. Sparked by Booker’s electric start, Phoenix led 46-28 and set a season-high in points scored in a single quarter.
Both teams began the second quarter rocky as the Pelicans shot 3-for-8 while the Suns were just 2-for-9 midway through.
Things would start to rev up for both squads, but Phoenix was able to maintain a 20+ point lead for the remainder of the first half, 74-54. Durant notched 16 points as the only other Sun to reach double digits through the initial two quarters besides Booker who had 37 before the buzzer.
“It just shows what kind of special player he is,” Suns head coach Frank Vogel said about Booker. “It’s really unbelievable with the type of performance he had tonight.”
The Pelicans started to cut their deficit to 96-80 in the third quarter after causing the Suns to turn the ball over 11 times. Phoenix had 14 turnovers overall compared to nine from New Orleans, but the Suns piled up moe rebounds, 49-37.
Phoenix was able to preserve the win 124-111 even after the Pelicans fought back to a 10-point margin in the fourth quarter. New Orleans has not won a game this season when they are down before the start of a fourth quarter.
“I don’t really have an answer, I just feel like I am playing the same way,” Booker said after scoring 52 points.
The Suns shot 43-for-87 (49.4%) from the floor and 18-for-47 (38.3%) from behind the arc. As for the Pelicans, they went 42-for-89 (47.2%) from the field and 11-for-27 (40.7%) from deep.
Next Games
Phoenix Suns: Home vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (45-30) on April 3 at 7 p.m. PT
New Orleans Pelicans: Home vs. Orlando Magic (43-31) on April 3 at 5 p.m. PT
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
