Goodwin, Teletovic, lead Suns over Pelicans 121-100
Phoenix Suns guard Archie Goodwin (20) goes to the basket in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans in New Orleans, Saturday, April 9, 2016. AP
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana—Archie Goodwin scored 24 points and Mizra Teletovic added 22 points to lead the Phoenix Suns past the New Orleans Pelicans 121-100 in a matchup of lottery-bound teams Saturday night.
The victory was the second straight for Phoenix (22-58), which snapped a seven-game losing streak on Thursday with a 124-115 win at Houston.
Toney Douglas had 23 points to lead New Orleans (30-50), which suffered its largest margin of defeat at home this season.
The Suns never trailed Saturday, taking the lead for good early in the second quarter on a jumper by Teletovic after New Orleans had gone on a 10-0 run to start the second half to tie it at 42.
Leading 55-47 at halftime, the Suns outscored the Pelicans 10-2 to start the third quarter and New Orleans never got within single digits.
Phoenix’s victory broke a tie with Brooklyn for the third-worst record in league going into the final week of the season.
The Suns have two games left, both at home, against Sacramento and the Los Angeles Clippers. Brooklyn (21-58) has three games remaining, starting Sunday at Indiana.
New Orleans went into Saturday with the league’s sixth-worst mark. The Pelicans have games remaining against Chicago at home on Monday and at Minnesota on Wednesday.
Phoenix, which had won consecutive road games only once before, shot 51.8 percent from the floor Saturday and outrebounded the Pelicans 53-42.
Goodwin, who had not scored more than 20 points January, was 7 of 11 from the field and hit seven of nine free throws coming off the bench. He had 14 of his 24 points in the second half.
Teletovic had 26 points in Thursday’s victory at Houston and has now topped 20 in four of his last five. In a reserve role, he did most of his damage against New Orleans in the first half when he scored 13 points to match Devin Booker for the team high at that point.
James Ennis had 18 points and Luke Babbitt 17 for New Orleans, which defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 110-102 on Friday in Kobe Bryant’s final appearance here, but could not match the Suns’ intensity Saturday.
Phoenix’s largest lead of the first half was 13 points, that coming late in the first quarter when a technical foul on Kendrick Perkins following a shooting foul on Babbitt gave the Suns a three-point play on two shots by Teletovic and one by Booker to make it 31-18.
A buzzer-beating layup by Booker put Phoenix up 55-47 at halftime.
