Suns take Game 1, hold off Pelicans' comeback effort behind Chris Paul's hot hand

Chris Paul had seen enough.

With the Pelicans making what should've been a comfortable wire-to-wire Game 1 win for Phoenix anything but that, Paul had a stretch in which he scored 17 of Phoenix's 19 points leading the Suns to a 110-99 win Sunday night.

Paul scored a game-high 30 points, hitting 4-of-5 from 3, as Phoenix will take a 1-0 lead in this best-of-7 series into Tuesday's Game 2 at Footprint Center.

"Just kind of take what the defense gives us," Paul said. "When (Devin Booker's) not in there, we always try to find other ways to score. That’s playing off one another and I could hear (Pelicans coach Willie Green) say ‘go under,’ so that mean they’re going to go under the ball screen so that’s like inviting me to shoot.”

The Suns led Game 1 by as many as 23 points before a sellout crowd of 17,071, but New Orleans shrunk that lead down to seven, 80-73, early in the fourth.

Then Paul took over.

The 17-year veteran answered the Pelicans in his 19-point blast that including 12 consecutive points. He hit three consecutive 3s during that run.

“Man, that is the CP3 show," Suns center Deandre Ayton said. "We just got a little taste of it. He was locked in. He just took advantage of what the defense was giving him. There was a lot of switching going on in that quarter and he just took advantage of it. He did what he did best, reading the defense and just attacking, and we trust him.”

Shooting 11-of-14 from the field, Paul had 10 assists and seven rebounds to give him his 52nd career playoff double-double.

Booker scored 25, hitting 4-of-8 from 3 while Ayton posted 21 points and nine boards.

Game 3 is Friday at Smoothie King Center.

“We have to play faster," Green said. "When teams have their hands on us, you can’t play slow. You have to get the ball out of bounds or rebound and get up the court quickly and get into your actions with force. I thought we were just a step slow. We’ve just got to take our time."

The underdog Pelicans were playing their third game in six days as they needed to win two games in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.

New Orleans beat San Antonio on Tuesday and won Friday in Los Angeles over the Clippers to grab the eighth seed. 

The Pelicans went into the play-in as the ninth seed.

With Green, a former Suns lead assistant, orchestrating this probable run to the postseason after a 1-12 start and minus Zion Williamson (foot) all season, New Orleans had reason to feel confident heading into the playoffs despite facing the No. 1 overall seed.

Then Phoenix showed why it has been the league's top team for most of the season in the first half, but New Orleans battled back before Paul's takeover.

"I think the team set up having the shooters around him, allows for him to get to the paint and then DA and JaVale (McGee) diving, puts a lot of pressure on the rim," Suns coach Monty Williams said. "That’s just classic Chris. At the right time, he takes over and we needed it."

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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