Devin Booker exploded for 52 points to lead the Phoenix Suns to victory.
Phoenix defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 124-111 on Sunday (Feb. 2) at the Smoothie King Center in Louisiana, U.S., behind 52 points from Booker in a 2023-2024 National Basketball Association (NBA) regular-season Western Conference road game.
Seventh-place Phoenix, which improved to 44-31, moved to within one game of sixth-place New Orleans (45-30). 바카라사이트 They need at least a sixth-place finish to bypass the play-in tournament and advance to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
Phoenix, which got 20 points from Kevin Durant and 19 from Jusuf Nurkic, led by as many as 25 points at one point in the third quarter.
New Orleans pulled to within 108-115 on a CJ McCollum three-pointer with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter, but there wasn’t enough time to change the outcome.
The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Chicago Bulls, who they will meet in the play-in tournament, 113-101.
Czech Republic’s Vit Krejci scored 18 points on six 3-pointers and Bojan Bogdanovic added 20 points to lead the Hawks to victory.
No. 10 Atlanta (35-40) and No. 9 Chicago (36-40) in the Eastern Conference will likely face off in the play-in tournament for two tickets to the quarterfinals.
The winner of the 9th-10th place matchup in the play-in tournament will face the loser of the 7th-8th place matchup and can advance to the quarterfinals with a win.
Atlanta, which shot 40 three-pointers, hitting 19 of them, dominated the game, extending its lead to as many as 17 points at one point late in the third quarter.
Chicago, which lost despite 31 points from Dermar Derozan and 22 from Koby White, fell to 0.5 games behind Atlanta.