Suns edge Pelicans on Warren's dunk in OT
NEW ORLEANS – T.J. Warren took a backdoor inbounds pass from P.J. Tucker in the lane and slammed home a dunk to lift the Phoenix Suns to a 112-111 overtime victory over the winless New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center.
The Suns (2-4) trailed 111-110, but after a timeout, they had time to set up an inbounds play. Warren faked Solomon Hill near the top of the key and then knifed toward the basket, where Tucker hit him with a perfectly timed pass for the winning dunk.
Devin Booker scored a career-high 38 points for the Suns and Eric Bledsoe had five of his 17 points in overtime.
Lance Stephenson appeared to win the game for the Pelicans in regulation when he hit an 8-foot, fallaway jumper over Warren with 2.1 seconds, putting New Orleans up 102-100.
But after a timeout, the Suns got the ball to Booker, who was freed up on the inbounds play, and Booker hit a 20-foot corner jumper over E'Twuan Moore to tie the score 102-102 at the buzzer.
Stephenson got a tip-in to give New Orleans a 104-102 lead in overtime but then threw up two awful shots on the Pelicans' next two possessions, as Alvin Gentry called timeout with five seconds left on the shot clock and pulled him from the game.
Bledsoe took over in the overtime, hitting a foul shot after being fouled on a drive and then scoring on a nice drive in the lane. He then hit a fallaway 10-footer to put Phoenix up 110-107 with 1:40 left.
Anthony Davis scored a team-high 22 points and reserve forward Terrence Jones added 19 for New Orleans (0-6).
Moore's two foul shots with 8.6 seconds left in overtime gave New Orleans a 111-110 lead, but that simply set up the Phoenix heroics.
Booker tied the score at 100 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 11.7 seconds left. His basket came on a feed from Eric Bledsoe, who rebounded a short 3-point attempt by Jared Dudley and kicked the ball out top.
Jones kept the Pelicans in the game almost single-handedly, hitting a three-point play and a driving layup to move the Pelicans within 87-85. New Orleans used an 10-0 run that included two mid-range jumpers by Lance Stephenson to take a 95-89 lead with 4:19 left.
Davis capped the run by making an open 20-footer and two foul shots. Tyson Chandler ended a 4 1/2-minute scoreless drought for the Suns by hitting two free throws to cut the New Orleans lead to 95-91.
Phoenix moved within 97-95 on a layup by Booker with 2:26 left and Langston Galloway's 3-pointer with 1:43 left gave New Orleans some breathing room at 100-95.
Booker hit eight of his first nine shots from the field, and his 10 third-quarter points gave the Suns an 81-79 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Hield appeared to break out of his shooting slump with 18 points in the Pelicans' 89-83 overtime loss to Memphis on Wednesday night, and he scored eight first-half points, including two 3-pointers. But the rookie cooled off quickly, missing six consecutive 3-pointers after that.
The Suns took s 30-29 first-quarter lead after shooting 56.5 percent from the floor, but the Pelicans made five 3-pointers in the second quarter -- two each by Hield and Langston Galloway -- to lead 61-58 at the half. Davis led the Pelicans with 12 first-half points, but he struggled at the line, missing four of his eight attempts. Terrence Jones and Tim Frazier added 11 point each for New Orleans.
The Suns got 14 points each from Warren and Booker in the first half. Booker made his first five shots and Warren was 7 of 7 from the foul line.
NOTES: Pelicans starting F Dante Cunningham was suspended one game without pay Friday after pleading guilty to "operating a motor vehicle in a negligent manner while exhibiting the effects of having consumed alcohol," the NBA announced. The incident happened over the summer in the state of Washington. "It's something that happened and obviously he regrets it, and it's time to move on," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said. ... Gentry said he's happy the team has moved into the middle of the pack defensively -- ranked 12th -- but he's surprised they have fallen to No. 29 offensively. "(Defensively) that's where we needed to be last year," Gentry said. "We've got to jump several spots offensively to make it all work." ... Suns coach Earl Watson said he hopes G Eric Bledsoe's game-winning 3-pointer against Portland on Wednesday will spark the Suns. "We've always believed in what we could do," Watson said. "We understand that we are part of building something that has a strong foundation."