Pelicans rally past Suns 125-114 after Booker’s injury

PHOENIX — Brandon Ingram’s rolling, Devin Booker’s hurting and the New Orleans Pelicans made it clear that this first-round playoff series will be a fight for the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.

Ingram had a fantastic all-around game with 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Pelicans over the Suns 125-114 in Game 2 on Tuesday, pulling off the impressive road win to tie the series at 1-all and earn their first postseason victory since 2018.

As the final buzzer sounded, Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. set the ball down on the court and sprinted off the court into the tunnel with his teammates.

Game 3 is on Friday in New Orleans.

“Good win, let’s go,” Nance said. “Let’s go home.”

Not only did the Suns lose the game, but they’re unsure about the health status of Booker, the All-Star guard who was spectacular in the first half with 31 points before leaving with right hamstring tightness in the third quarter.

The Suns — who led the NBA with a franchise-record 64 wins during the regular season — trailed 77-74 when he departed.

There wasn’t much of an update on Booker’s health or if the injury might keep him out beyond Tuesday. Suns guard Chris Paul said the injury was no excuse for the loss.

“We’ve got guys that are more than capable of stepping up,” Paul said. “Book was killing. He was having a big-time game, but it is what it is.”

Phoenix kept the game close without its leading scorer and even took a lead early in the fourth, but the Pelicans rallied, getting big 3s from Jose Alvarado, CJ McCollum and Ingram to take an advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.

“Everything was flowing,” Ingram said. “Everybody was effective on the floor, all five. All five made something happen, whether it was offensively or defensively. We were really connected today.”

McCollum finished with 23 points. Ingram added tough back-to-back jumpers in the closing minutes to keep a final Suns rally at bay.

“This is one of his best and it was on a big stage,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “I’m proud of that young man. He works his tail off, he’s a great teammate, high character, high IQ and he put it on display tonight.”

Ingram finished 13 of 21 shooting from the field. The Pelicans shot 17 of 30 (57%) from 3-point range.

The Suns certainly missed Booker in the final quarter, but spotty transition defense throughout the evening was a bigger culprit in the loss.

“That was probably, for us, the worst we have ever looked in transition since I have been here,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “For that to happen in a playoff game was a bit unsettling for everybody.

The Pelicans admitted they were a little surprised by the intensity of their Game 1 loss, especially during the first half when they fell into a 19-point halftime hole. They didn’t make the same mistake on Tuesday, taking a 30-28 lead after one quarter.

The Suns rallied for a 61-56 halftime advantage thanks to Booker scoring spree. He scored all of his 31 in the first half on 12 of 18 shooting, including 7 of 10 from 3-point range. He hit a 30-footer just before the halftime buzzer after the Pelicans inexplicably left him open.

BOOKER’S INJURY

Booker left the game and went to the locker room late in the third quarter. On the possession before he departed, he jumped to contest a fastbreak shot by New Orleans, but it wasn’t immediately clear that he was hurt.

He returned at the beginning of the fourth quarter wearing warmups and never re-entered the game. Booker missed multiple games earlier in the season with a hamstring injury.

BACK-TO-BACK BLOCKS

One of the more entertaining exchanges of the game came in the third quarter when the Suns’ Mikal Bridges and Pelicans’ Jaxson Hayes swapped spectacular blocks on back-to-back possessions.

Bridges struck first, swatting Hayes’ turn-around jumper to start a Suns fastbreak. Bridges looked like he might finish with a dunk a few seconds later but Hayes recovered for his own block, trapping the ball with two hands against the backboard.

DA BABY

Booker scored 16 points in the first quarter on 6 of 10 shooting and his final bucket was a heartwarmer.

The guard hit a tough corner jumper just before the buzzer and fell to the floor next to the crowd. Booker looked up and there was a baby in the lap of a man right next to him, so he gave the baby a fist bump before running back to the huddle.

TIP-INS

Pelicans: McCollum nearly had a triple-double, adding nine assists and eight rebounds.

Suns: Paul finished with 17 points and 14 assists but shot just 5 of 16 from the field.

GRIZZLIES 124, TIMBERWOLVES 96

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ja Morant scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies looked much more like the team that posted the NBA’s second-best record, routing the Minnesota Timberwolves 124-96 on Tuesday night to even up their first-round Western Conference series at 1 apiece.

Morant went to the bench with 4:40 left to a huge ovation. He finished a rebound shy of a triple-double. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. each added 16 with Jackson hitting 4 of 7 from 3-point range as the Grizzlies finished with seven in double figures.

Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Ziaire Williams each had 13. Tyus Jones added 10.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Anthony Edwards, who scored 36 points in his playoff debut in Game 1, led Minnesota with 20. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Naz Reid and Taurean Prince had 12 each off the bench, and D’Angelo Russell added 11.

HEAT 115, HAWKS 105

MIAMI — Jimmy Butler scored a playoff career-high 45 points, including a personal 7-0 run in the final moments, and the Heat held off the Hawks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Tyler Herro scored 15 for Miami, while Max Strus scored 14 and Gabe Vincent added 11 for top-seeded Miami, which took a 2-0 lead over the eighth-seeded Hawks.

Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Atlanta. Trae Young scored 25 for the Hawks, while De’Andre Hunter had 16 and John Collins finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks.

Butler’s previous playoff best was 40, done twice, both in the bubble when the Heat made the 2020 NBA Finals. The Heat needed all of his heroics then, and they needed them all on Tuesday as well.

Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 3:15 left got Atlanta within 104-101.

From there, it was all Butler.