Suns Strokes: Suns unable to hold lead at home in OT loss to Pelicans

PHOENIX — Nearly 24 hours before the buzzer went off in the Phoenix Suns’ 120-119 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Pelicans lost in a 133-105 blowout to the Los Angeles Clippers in Los Angeles.

With under six minutes to play in the third quarter Sunday night, the Suns were up 11 and with their opponent coming off a back-to-back, it was going to be an important stretch for them to close out the game, even though Pelicans All-Star power forward Anthony Davis did not play the night prior.

Instead of blowing the game open, the Suns allowed the Pelicans to stay in it. The lead shortened over the course of a nine-minute stretch and eventually, the game was tied with under nine minutes to play.

New Orleans fought hard, not letting the opportunity slip away. They had 15 assists in the second half and overtime, receiving a huge spark from backup point guard Tim Frazier.

“Tim Frazier changed the game,” Suns head coach Earl Watson said after the game.

Frazier, who started in place of Jrue Holiday at the beginning of the season before Holiday came back into the starting lineup, had a triple-double off the bench, with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists with just one turnover and five steals. It’s the second triple-double since the 1983-84 season in league history when the player came off the bench and had at least five steals, according to Basketball Reference.

Eric Bledsoe had 32 points and eight assists and his big man, Tyson Chandler, had a huge night, grabbing 21 rebounds and scoring 14 points.

Devin Booker and Leandro Barbosa, who played most of the fourth quarter and overtime alongside Bledsoe in the backcourt, chipped in a combined 34. Barbosa’s 18-point effort made it the fourth straight game he was in double digits.

Even though P.J. Tucker did a tremendous job limiting Davis to 4-of-17 shooting in a size mismatch, the Pelicans were able to get a win with Davis scoring 14 points. They entered Sunday night 2-6 in games when Davis scored less than 30 points.

THE GOOD

The game plan at the start appeared to be to get Booker involved, but Pelicans forward Solomon Hill defended him very well to start the game. In the first five minutes, Booker had two turnovers and missed his only shot despite having most of the offense revolved around him starting the actions offensively. With that in mind, the special thing about a player like Booker is he can make a poor start like that evaporate when he hits two straight jumpers, one of them a three-pointer. On his next possession with the ball after those shots, Booker found more space to drive by Hill and all of a sudden, he had seven points in the first six and a half minutes on four field goal attempts.

THE BAD

Pelicans guard Reggie Williams was just signed by the Pelicans on Saturday and scored 11 points in four minutes during his first shift for New Orleans in Sunday’s game. His scoring outburst came at a time in the beginning of the second quarter when the Suns would have led by double digits.

With under six minutes left in the second quarter, the Suns were up 11. The Pelicans played in Los Angeles against the Clippers Saturday night, and while Davis did not play in that game, it was an ideal time for the Suns to firmly put the game out of the opponent’s reach at home. Instead, the Pelicans pulled to within three points with under 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Two minutes later it was a tie game.

HE SAID IT

“Young guys have to learn how to win, but it’s not a lot of our young guys,” Watson said after the loss.

STAT OF THE GAME

1: With the overtime loss, the Suns still have only one winning streak on the season.

NOTED

– Davis entered the night averaging 31.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. If he were to maintain those averages, he would become the first player in over 25 years to average at least 30 points and 10 rebounds a game.

– Barbosa played crunch time over Brandon Knight, who played 16 minutes.

UP NEXT

Phoenix begins a difficult slate in their schedule that starts with a home game Tuesday against the New York Knicks (13-10). Tip-off is at 7 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes prior on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Under former Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek, the Knicks are poised to finish above .500 for the first time since the 2012-13 season.

The Suns went win-less against New York last season. In his 33 career games against the Suns, Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is averaging 23.8 points per game.

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