Zion Williamson scored 27 points, matched his career high of 11 assists and collected 10 rebounds for his first career triple-double while leading the New Orleans Pelicans to a solid 124-116 road victory over the struggling Phoenix Suns.
Williamson made 13 of 17 field-goal attempts as New Orleans won its third straight game and fourth in its past five outings.
CJ McCollum scored 19 points, Trey Murphy III added 18 points and Karlo Matkovic had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pelicans. Jose Alvarado scored 14 points and Jordan Hawkins had 10 as New Orleans won the opener of the two-game set.
The teams play again Friday night at Phoenix.
Devin Booker recorded 36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds but couldn’t prevent the underachieving Suns from losing for the 10th time in their past 12 games.
Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Tyus Jones had 15 points and matched his season best of 12 assists, Bol Bol tallied 15 points and Nick Richards added 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Suns, who played without Bradley Beal (calf).
Booker and Durant made baskets to bring Phoenix within 116-112 with 2:12 remaining but Williamson answered with consecutive baskets to push the New Orleans lead back to eight with 1:19 remaining.
Durant converted a layup 11 seconds later. But McCollum made two free throws with 23 seconds left to give the Pelicans a 122-114 lead. McCollum later slammed home a dunk with 7.8 seconds left to seal it.
The Pelicans shot 48.1 percent from the field, including 17 of 47 from 3-point range. New Orleans outscored the Suns 36-25 in the final stanza.
Phoenix made 46.8 percent of its shots and was 20 of 53 from behind the arc.
New Orleans went on an 11-1 spurt early in the fourth quarter with Williamson’s putback giving the Pelicans a 99-94 lead.
New Orleans later received Williamson’s layup and Matkovic’s wide-open trey from the right corner to make it 116-108 with 3:26 left.
Booker scored 17 first-half points as the Suns held a 62-61 lead at the break. Murphy had 14 points in the half for the Pelicans.
New Orleans scored the final four points of the first quarter to hold a 35-30 lead and then rattled off the first 13 points of the second period. Jordan Hawkins drained a trey to cap the burst and make it 48-30 with 9:04 left in the first half.
Phoenix then erupted to score 30 of the next 39 points and took the lead at 60-57 on a 3-pointer by Booker with 1:41 left.
The Suns led 91-88 entering the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
