Chris Paul takes over late, scores 19 in fourth, leads Suns to Game 3 win against Pelicans

Through one-and-a-half games, Devin Booker had been the best player in this 1 vs. 8 first-round playoff series. With him sidelined, where would the Suns’ clutch scoring come from?

Chris Paul.

CP3 scored 19 fourth-quarter points and controlled the game late, leading the Suns to another clutch win, this time 114-111 over the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 3 of their series.

Every Suns bucket since the 10-minute mark in the 4Q:

CP twoCP twoCP assistCP twoCP twoCP twoCP twoCrowder twoCP assistCP two

That midrange pull up is unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/rPKUu7M3NV

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 23, 2022

Phoenix now has a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Sunday.

It was a bounce-back game for the Suns, who played poorly in a Game 2 loss. Friday night their defense still struggled to get stops at points, although traps on Brandon Ingram ad CJ McCollum late did help the Suns get the win. Paul stepped up (28 points on the night) but Deandre Ayton scoring 28 points on 20 shots — he did it working with Paul on the pick-and-roll, but also on post-ups, from the midrange and he even drained a 3.

Ingram still had a big night with 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting, and McCollum added 30. Still, the Pelicans looked like a young team playing a veteran one — like Jaxson Hayes getting ejected — and they were too slow to adjust the defense when Paul started going off.

Still there were impressive stretches — like when Jose Alvarado scored seven straight in the fourth quarter — and this is a Pelicans team that could win Game 4 at home Sunday and even the series. With Booker out, the Pelicans can hang with the Suns.

They just need to find a way to better contain Chris Paul.