NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Brandon Ingram scored 29 points in his return from a five-game absence, Herb Jones capped off his first game back from a shoulder injury by blocking Devin Booker’s last-second shot, and the New Orleans Pelicans snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 126-124 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.
CJ McCollum scored 25 points, but missed a free throw with 3 seconds left, allowing the Suns a final shot for the win or tie. When Booker, who had 28 points, received an inbound pass at the 3-point line, he rose for a shot and had the ball swatted away by Jones, who hadn’t played in 18 games.
Jones had one of this four steals with 2:02 left and made a left corner 3 about 13 seconds later to give New Orleans a 121-117 lead. He finished with 12 points.
Trey Murphy scored 19 points, Dejounte Murray scored 17 and rookie center Yves Missi had 12 rebounds for the Pelicans,
Bradley Beal scored 24 points for Phoenix.
Takeaways
Suns: Playing without star forward Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) and center Jusuf Nurkic (right thigh bruise), Phoenix still nearly won.
Pelicans: With five of the top six player in their rotation on the court for the first time since late October, the Pelicans looked far more competitive than they have.
Key moment
McCollum hit a driving floater high off the glass to put the Pelicans in front with 35 seconds left and then assisted on Murphy alley-oop dunk that made it 125-121 with 15 seconds left.
Key stat
The Pelicans made seven of nine 3-point attempts in the third quarter, when they turned a 65-54 deficit into a 99-93 lead.
Up next
The Suns visit Miami on Saturday. The Pelicans host Oklahoma City on Saturday.
