Paul powers Suns over Clippers
LOS ANGELES: Phoenix star Chris Paul posted his first triple-double of the season on Thursday to power the Suns to a 106-89 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers that boosted their Western Conference lead over the Golden State Warriors.
With stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green sidelined by injury, the Warriors (29-9) fell 101-96 to the Pelicans in New Orleans, the defeat coming on the heels of Wednesday’s setback in Dallas and marking the Warriors’ first back-to-back losses since last season.
The Suns (30-8) became the first team to win 30 games this season, improving to 30-8 and moving one game ahead of the Warriors for the best record in the league.
Paul led the way with his 17th career triple-double, grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds alongside 14 points and 10 assists in Phoenix.
Cameron Johnson added a careerhigh 24 points, and Jalen Smith chipped in 19 points and 14 rebounds to boost a Suns line-up depleted by Covid19 concerns.
Paul shrugged off the difficulties of powering through with centre Deandre Ayton, Forward Jae Crowder and JaVale McGee all absent as they regain fitness after being sidelined by Covid issues.
“Everybody’s got guys out right now,” Paul said.
At New Orleans, Brandon Ingram set aside his recent shooting woes to score 32 points for the Pelicans, who trailed by 11 in the first half but held on to end a three-game losing streak.
Curry sat out with a sore left quadriceps after banging into the knee of Dallas’ Dorian Finney-Smith in Golden State’s loss to the Mavericks on Wednesday.
Green was sidelined with a sore left hip and Juan Toscano-Anderson was also out with an ankle injury.
Even so the Warriors led much of the first half, but with 13 points from Ingram in the second quarter the Pelicans took a one-point lead into half-time.
Up by 10 with 1:27 remaining, the Pelicans withstood a Warriors surge that pulled the visitors within 94-91 with less than a minute to play.
But the Pelicans made a string of free throws to close out the victory.
In New York, RJ Barrett banked in an unlikely off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer to cap the Knicks’ 108-105 comeback victory over the Boston Celtics. Evan Fournier helped set up the dramatic ending, draining 10 threepointers on the way to a career-high 41 points to fuel New York’s fightback from a 25-point first-half deficit.