Suns stopped Pelicans from taking over during Game 5
The Phoenix Suns looked determined to not waver on their defensive grit, offensive attack, and the lead in Game 5’s third quarter over the Pelicans on Tuesday in Phoenix.
That seemed like another collective response to their coach Monty Williams who told his team during a timeout late in Game 3’s third quarter, “We can’t waver right now” after they were up 59-48 at halftime. Then the Pelicans went on a 14-6 run to cut the Suns’ lead to two, and entered the fourth trailing 81-79.
With help of the deafening home crowd noise in the crucial game for a 3-2 lead, the Suns played their best third quarter in this first-round series against the Pelicans in Game 5.
Although they didn’t outscore the Pelicans (32-30), the Suns entered the fourth on an 89-78 lead. They didn’t allow the Pelicans to go on a significant run in the third to cut much into Phoenix’s 13point halftime. The Suns extended their lead to 18 — their third-largest of this series, and biggest in any of the five game’s second halves — through the third period’s seven-minute mark.
That was the momentum they needed to beat the Pelicans, 112-97.
“It just seemed like more effort on 50/ 50 balls, there was a lot of physicality in the paint, but we scored,” Suns coach Monty Williams said in the postgame. “There’s been a number of third quarters where we just didn’t score. We were able to knock down some shots, that let us set our defense.
“(The Pelicans) were able to score 32, they’ve been really good in the third quarter. I think the awareness of it is number one, and then bringing the physicality
and intensity probably shortened the margin a bit for us, and we just knocked down some shots in the third. We haven’t been able to do that consistently this series.”
During this series’ first four games, the Suns of the third quarter don’t really look like the Suns that became a franchisebest 64-win team this past regular season.
After the Suns led at halftime in Games 1-4, New Orleans burned them by outscoring Phoenix 137-93 in the third.
“We’ve been saying something about the third quarter every game,” Chris Paul (22 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, three steals) said. “Just because you talk about it doesn’t mean it’s gonna work the way you want it to. But I don’t know, I’ll tell
you this: During the game, I don’t know who got what, who hot, I’m just trying to make sure we win at the end of the game.”
Here are some other significant stats that favor the Pelicans in the third quarter:
Averaged 34 points to the Suns’ 25 Averaged 16-7 runs through five and a minutes during the third quarter of Games 1-4
They’ve shot 58.6% on their field goals and 43.34% from beyond the arc compared to the Suns’ 42.3% and 22.86 in those respective categories
Pelicans have made 40-of-47 free throws vs. Suns’ 23-of-30 from the line
Pelicans’ top scorer Brandon Ingram scores about 37% of his 28.2-point average in this series during the third
In both Pelicans’ wins this series, they entered the fourth quarter leading the Suns
In Game 5, the Suns hit their best 48% on their field goals well as 50% from the 3, their best shooting production among all the series’ third quarters. Phoenix was led by Mikal Bridges’ 11 points, the most among all scorers in the third.
He had his best playoff performance since his 27-point effort in the 2021 NBA Finals Game 2. Bridges finished with a playoff career-high and game-high 31 points (12-for-17 FG, 4-for-4 from the 3) and added five rebounds, two assists, a game-high four blocks and one steal.
“‘Kal was amazing, but we expect that from him. It is not a surprise to us,” Paul said about Bridges.”
After questioning their own physicality matching up to the Pelicans in their Game 4 loss, the Suns were aggressive and committed nine fouls, which put New Orleans in the free-throw bonus. As Cameron Payne and Jae Crowder got into foul trouble, Williams claimed that forced him to play Bridges the entire third quarter (played a game-high 47 minutes).
Bridges echoed Williams’ “hit first” rhetoric to propel them past New Orleans and explained what made the difference in Game 5’s third period for the Suns.
“Just not getting in foul trouble early, putting them in the bonus too early,” Bridges said.
“They still got a bonus, but it’s a difference in five minutes on the clock than eight minutes on the clock. It was just a better job of just being aggressive also, showing hands early. But I think that’s the key thing right there is just trying to defend hard as we can coming out that third and get momentum.”