With the exceptions of Paul and Booker, who combined to go 11-19 from three-point land, the Suns struggled to hit three-pointers against the Pelicans. The rest of the team was a combined 4-22 three-point, including a 1-10 conbrituion from the bench. Despite the poor three-point shooting, Phoenix did have one shooting advantage.
Reason 4 – Suns dominate the free-throw line
It was a night where the Suns had the whistleblowing in their favor. The Suns attempted 35 free throws to just 13 for New Orleans. Those numbers were in stark contrast to what we saw a week before in New Orleans, but sometimes the home team gets the call.
In truth, Booker got most of the attempts, and frankly, his performance warranted the 15 attempts he got.
Besides DBook, it was Okogie who managed to earn eight free-throw attempts. A couple of Okogie’s free throws came from his successful offensive rebounding, but regardless, he was getting to the line.
On a night when most Suns struggled to score the basketball, getting to the foul line was imperative to the win.
Reason 5 – Booker’s big night carries the day for Phoenix
Above and beyond everything else, the Phoenix’s win over New Orleans was mainly the result of Devin Booker’s performance. Booker set an arena record with 58 points. After several sub-par games in a row, it was the kind of performance most fans that have been watching the Suns for a few years were expecting to see.
Booker was great and was exactly what the Suns needed, along with Paul’s leadership, and Okogie’s effort, it was a formula for success.