Pelicans peck at Phoenix to tie NBA playoff series 2-2
WASHINGTON – The upstart New Orleans Pelicans, last team to clinch their playoff spot, again stunned the top-seeded Phoenix Suns on Tuesday (Monday, Manila time), 118-103, to knot their NBA Western Conference playoff series two games apiece.
The Suns, who led the league with 64 regular-season wins, find themselves heading home for Game Five on tied 2-2 with a young Pelicans team that harried them throughout a sometimes tense battle in New Orleans.
Brandon Ingram scored 30 points and Jonas Valanciunas added a playoff-career-high 26 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Pelicans against a Suns team missing top scorer Devin Booker, who is sidelined the remainder of the series with a hamstring strain.
Phoenix, led by 23 points from DeAndre Ayton, led 51-49 at halftime.
But New Orleans outscored Phoenix by 13 points in the third quarter to take a 10-point lead and put it away with a 12-0 scoring run that pushed their lead to 16 points midway through the final period.
Suns star Chris Paul, harried all night by New Orleans' Jose Alvarado, scored just four points with 11 assists and was whistled for one of three technical fouls meted out to the Suns.
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