Chris Paul produced a historic night to close out the Phoenix Suns’ series against the Pelicans in 4 games.
The “Point God” went 14 of 14 from the field-most field goals made in a playoff without a miss-for 33 points and 8 assists to finish off the Pelicans 115-109.
The stubborn New Orleans side did not give up easily and a returning Devin Booker needed to make a crucial three-pointer to put them away. Booker played for the first time in nine days since injuring his right hamstring after scoring 31 points in the first half of Game 2.
He scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting and had five rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.
The game got chippy in the second quarter — there were 16 fouls called — and the Pelicans seemed to revel in the physical play, outscoring the Suns 30-20 to take a 58-48 halftime lead.
The Suns erased that 10-point halftime deficit by making 13 of their first 14 shots in the third quarter to take a 77-74 lead.
At that point, Paul was 10 of 10 from the field, and Ayton who added 22 points was 6 of 6.
Paul scored 13 of his points in the quarter, but New Orleans once again rallied through an 11-5 run to take an 85-82 lead into the final period.
Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 21 points.
After Brandon Ingram gave New Orleans its final lead, 104-103, on a reverse baseline layup with 2:00 left, Chris Paul found Booker unguarded on the left-wing, and he made the 3-pointer to put Phoenix ahead 106-104 with 1:42 left.
From there it was all about keeping their composure and the Suns had plenty of that to close out the series 4-2.
Phoenix will now face Dallas Mavericks in the second round.
The Pelicans can be proud of what they have achieved this season after starting 1-12 and falling to 3-16 before they managed to make the play-in tournament and pushed the top-seeded Suns to a Game 6.
