Pelicans 126-124 Suns (December 5, 2024) Game Recap

NEW ORLEANS – Brandon Ingram scored 29 points in his return after a five-game absence, Herb Jones capped his first game back from a shoulder injury by stopping Devin Booker’s last-second shot, and the New Orleans Pelicans scored a nine-game 126 A 124-game win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night ended a losing streak.

CJ McCollum scored 25 points but missed a free throw with three seconds left, giving the Suns their last chance to win or tie. When Booker, who had 28 points, received an inbound pass at the 3-point line, he rose to shoot and had the ball punched away by Jones, who hadn’t played in 18 games.

Jones had one of those four steals with 2:02 left and made a left corner 3 about 13 seconds later to give New Orleans a 121-117 lead. He finished with 12 points.

Trey Murphy scored 19 points, Dejounte Murray 17 and rookie center Yves Missi had 12 rebounds for the Pelicans.

Bradley Beal scored 24 points for Phoenix.

Takeaways

Suns: Phoenix played without star forward Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and center Jusuf Nurkic (right thigh bruise) and still almost won.

Pelicans: With five of the top six players in their rotation on the court for the first time since late October, the Pelicans looked far more competitive than before.

Key moment

McCollum hit a driving floater high over the glass to give the Pelicans the lead with 35 seconds left, then assisted on Murphy’s alley-oop dunk that made it 125-121 with 15 seconds left.

Key statistics

The Pelicans made seven of nine 3-point attempts in the third quarter as they turned a 65-54 deficit into a 99-93 lead.

Next

The Suns visit Miami on Saturday. The Pelicans host Oklahoma City on Saturday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba