Anthony Davis’ authoritative put-back dunk in the final minutes summed up a night on which his relentless play around the basket forced Phoenix’s three tallest players to foul out.
Davis on Monday scored a season-high 53 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked five shots as the New Orleans Pelicans extended their winning streak to six with a 125-116 victory over the hapless Phoenix Suns.
“Thank you Anthony, for carrying us,” Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday said. “Look at his numbers, man. He’s something else.”
Photo: AP
Davis has scored no fewer than 27 points in a game during New Orleans’ winning streak, scoring at least 38 five times and more than 40 four times.
After 2.08m Davis hit his 21st free throw, the Suns had to guard the Pelicans’ All-Star power forward with 2.03m small forward Josh Jackson because 2.13m Dragan Bender and Alex Len, and 2.08m Marquese Chriss had all fouled out with nearly five minutes still to play.
“A lot of their bigs were in foul trouble. I just wanted to hang around the rim as much as possible, knowing I had the size advantage,” Davis said. “We’ll take any type of win, any type of way we can get it.”
Holiday scored 20 points for the Pelicans, whose season-best unbeaten run has pulled them into a tie with Portland for fifth place in the Western Conference, despite being without All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, who was lost for the rest of the season on Jan. 26 with a torn Achilles.
Emeka Okafor, brought back to the NBA for the first time since 2013 about a week after Cousins’ injury, scored 14 points.
“Right now, everybody’s playing their part. Everybody’s doing it together and then we’re doing it without one of our main guys, so it makes it more special, especially when everybody thought we were going to go down in the standings. We’re actually moving up,” Davis said.
Devin Booker had 40 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix, who lost their 10th straight and have not won this month.
T.J. Warren added 23 points, while Josh Jackson had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who led by as many as 17 in the second quarter, but fell behind for good with about five minutes left in the fourth.
“We are playing a lot better and I like that we are still fighting. Executing down the stretch is something that will come with us,” Booker said.
“We are a young team and we have to learn that.” he said.
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