Bledsoe, Dragic Lead Suns Over Pelicans

94

88

The Suns entered the night knowing full well they control their own destiny in regards to making the playoffs.

In short, if they win their last five games, they're in.

It wasn't pretty, but they kept their playoff hopes alive with a 94-88 win over the Pelicans in New Orleans Wednesday night.

It was the Suns third straight win which now puts them at 47-31 on the year with four games left (at San Antonio, at Dallas, Memphis, at Sacramento), just ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Gerald Green led the Suns with 21 points off the bench while Goran Dragic finished with 20 points and nine assists.

Eric Bledsoe came alive in the second half to score all of his 16 points and, ultimately, kept the Suns in the game down the stretch. P.J. Tucker added 15 points and nine boards for Phoenix, who handed the Pelicans their sixth straight loss.

New Orleans hung with the Suns through the duration of the game, even when Phoenix went up by 10 in the fourth quarter. Anthony Morrow and Darius Miller each scored 14 for the injury-depleted Pelicans, who came back from double-digits to take a three-point lead prior to huge baskets from Bledsoe and Markieff Morris with under two minutes to go.

The Suns are now 23-9 when using a starting lineup of Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, P.J. Tucker, Channing Frye and Miles Plumlee.

Next up, the Suns travel to San Antonio to face the Spurs Friday night followed by a big game in Dallas against the Mavericks on Saturday.

Goran Dragic may have finished with more points (20) and assists (9), but Eric Bledsoe kept the Suns in the game in the second half by scoring all of his 16 points in the third and fourth quarters to go along with six assists (his biggest coming on a Markieff Morris shot late in the game) and six boards.

9: the number of rebounds P.J. Tucker tallied, a game high. His most important boards, however, occurred in the final minute to seal the win.