Bledsoe, Suns have enough left to beat Pistons
PHOENIX -- Eric Bledsoe scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Phoenix Suns kept the Detroit Pistons winless on the road this season with a 107-100 victory on Wednesday.
Jared Dudley added 19 points off the bench for the Suns (3-6), who lost a tough game on the road to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday but had enough gas left to rebound on back-to-back nights.
Bledsoe had 11 rebounds and eight assists, just missing a triple-double.
T.J. Warren had 18 points and Alex Len had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Suns, who had six players in double figures. Playing without stating center Tyson Chandler (death in the family), the Phoenix bench outscored the Pistons 41-21.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a team-high 27 points for the Pistons (4-4), who are now 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road after eight games. Andre Drummond had 18 points and 14 rebounds for Detroit, who lost to the Los Angeles Clippers by 32 points on Monday but held in a lot longer this time.
The Pistons used an early 12-2 run midway through the first quarter to break out and pushed their lead to 28-17 on a Marcus Morris jumper with 30-3 seconds left. Detroit's starters had all 28 points in the quarter, with Caldwell-Pope leading the way with nine.
But Dudley, who came into the game averaging 5.9 points, had 15 of his 16 first-half points in the quarter and capped a 10-1 run with one of his three 3-pointers to turn an eight-point deficit into a 33-32 Phoenix lead with 8:08 left.
Phoenix hit five 3-pointers in the quarter and led by as many as five before settling for a 54-51 lead at the break.
Morris, the former Sun who was booed before each of his free throw attempts, led the Pistons with 11 first-half points.
The Suns stretched their lead to 79-70 late in the third period. But ex-Sun Jon Leuer scored nine of his 11 points during a 17-2 run that spilled into the fourth quarter and a jumper by Morris gave the Pistons an 87-81 lead with 9:20 left
Phoenix answered quickly, tying the game at 90 on a Bledsoe fade away jumper with 5:27 left and taking the lead for good when Dudley fed Len for a fast break dunk 25 seconds later.
NOTES: Suns C Tyson Chandler missed his second straight game after the passing of his mother on Tuesday. The news came within a few minutes of Suns vice president of player programs Mark West losing his father. "When we announced it to the team, you could just feel the pain sweep through the locker room," Suns coach Earl Watson said. "You could see tears in the guys' eyes. It's a reality check." ... Devin Booker became the youngest player in NBA history with back-to-back games of at least 38 points when he followed a 39-point game at New Orleans on Friday with a 39-point game against the Los Angeles Lakers at age 20 years and seven days. Bernard King previously held that distinction at 20 years, 335 days on Nov. 2-4, 1977. Booker is the first Suns player with back-to-back 38-point games since Tom Chambers (March 7-9, 1990). ... Andre Drummond has the most double-doubles in the NBA (119) since the beginning of the 2014-15 season. That's 17 more than runner-up Pau Gasol.