Suns Push Past Pelicans in Chaotic Saturday Night Win

The Phoenix Suns completed the back-to-back sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans after Saturday night's 123-114 win.

The Suns move to 18-13 on the season after their consecutive wins at Smoothie King Center both Friday and tonight. They now lead the season series over New Orleans 3-0.

Sparks flew late in the third quarter as Jose Alvarado and Mark Williams were ejected for fighting.

Devin Booker led the Suns with 20 points while Phoenix shot 45% from three-point land. They led by as much as 13 in New Orleans.

Quick recap:

First Quarter

After getting down early initially, the Suns went on a quick 8-0 run to take their first lead of the night, causing Pelicans coach James Borrego to use a timeout.

Phoenix managed a small lead throughout much of the first quarter -- though it was New Orleans who carried a 33-32 lead after the opening 12 minutes.

Trey Murphy led all scorers with 11 points. New Orleans shot just 35% from the floor despite having the lead.

Second Quarter

The Suns saw their largest lead of the first half after establishing a 40-34 lead. Collin Gillespie was a major reason for Phoenix holding a lead, as he made his first four three-point attempts.

In fact, the Suns as a team began the night 11-21 from downtown.

It wasn't long before their lead exploded past double digits, as Phoenix entered the locker room up 65-55.

The Suns had 24 second-chance points in the first half while Gillespie led all scorers with 15 points. Phoenix also collected an eye-opening 36 rebounds in the opening two quarters.

Third Quarter

The Pelicans managed to hit a quick 8-0 run to begin the third, forcing Jordan Ott to call a quick timeout.

The Suns regrouped and carried a seven-point lead to the next TV timeout despite six turnovers in the first six minutes of the quarter.

In a bit of a surprise, Dillon Brooks picked up his first foul with 5:06 left in the third -- and yet it wasn't Brooks who was ejected for fighting Jose Alvarado, as Mark Williams was with just a few minutes left in the third.

You can read more about that here.

The Suns ultimately led 93-85 entering the fourth quarter.

Fourth Quarter

Phoenix pushed their lead back to double digits at the 8:55 timeout, thanks to making nine more three-pointers to that point with Booker/Brooks resting on the bench.

A 9-0 run from the Pelicans drew their deficit to just three points with four minutes remaining.

The Suns responded well to Ott's message during the timeout, going on a 7-0 run with two minutes left. Royce O'Neale buried a three-pointer with over a minute left to push Phoenix's lead to double digits, which saw the Suns eventually earn the victory as the final buzzer sounded.