The Phoenix Suns begin a four-game road swing on Friday night with the first of back-to-back contests against the New Orleans Pelicans.
The weekend double-dip in the Big Easy marks the second and third of four matchups between the Western Conference counterparts, with the Suns winning the first in Phoenix 121-98 on Nov. 10.
Phoenix’s blowout win contributed to a dismal first two months of the season for New Orleans, but the Pelicans return home on Friday having recently pulled out of the West cellar. New Orleans put together a season-best five-game winning streak from Dec. 11-22, accounting for more than half of its total wins on the campaign.
The Pelicans’ run ended on Tuesday in Cleveland with a 141-118 setback. A silver lining for New Orleans in the lopsided loss to the Cavaliers was the continued standout play of Derik Queen, who finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“He’s having a massive impact out there against the top centers in the league,” Pelicans interim coach James Borrego said of Queen. “He’s been a big part of our recent success and I expect that to continue.”
The rookie big man from the University of Maryland has scored at least 16 points, grabbed at least seven boards and dished at least three assists in each of the last four games, during which he has faced noteworthy centers Alperen Sengun of Houston, Anthony Davis of Dallas and Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen.
New Orleans has also seen significant contributions from Trey Murphy III of late, including a run of seven straight games scoring at least 20 points from Dec. 2-18. Murphy scored 14 points Tuesday, with his scoring average dipping slightly to 20.6 per game.
He trails only Zion Williamson’s 21.8 points per game after the former All-Star went for 26 points in Cleveland. Williamson has been coming off the bench since his return from a six-game injury with an adductor injury, scoring 24-plus points in three straight contests.
New Orleans was without Williamson in its previous matchup against Phoenix, a game in which Suns guard Grayson Allen erupted for a career-high 42 points.
Phoenix scoring leaders Devin Booker (25.4 points per game) and Dillon Brooks (21.8) stepped up in the Suns’ 132-108 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Brooks finished with 25 points and Booker went for 21 points and 11 assists.
Booker’s passing set the tone with Phoenix scoring 35 of its 50 made field goals off of assists.
“Book’s ability to create a close-out just by his presence on the floor … that’s what we want to do,” Phoenix coach Jordan Ott said. “However we can create an advantage, put (defenses) in close-outs (to free up open teammates).”
On Tuesday, the Suns also saw key contributions from Mark Williams, who had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Collin Gillespie, who was 4 of 8 from 3-point range on the way to 16 points.
Gillespie has scored 16 points in each of the last three contests and knocked down multiple 3-pointers in three of his last four.
