Pelicans

With New Orleans up by nine, Phoenix took exception to Williamson's decision not to dribble out the clock.

[New Orleans Pelicans](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/NO/new-orleans-pelicans/)' 128-117 win over the [Phoenix Suns](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/PHO/phoenix-suns/) on Friday night. Not only did the Suns and Pelicans tussle in last year's playoffs, but they've also been tussling at the top of the Western Conference standings so far this season. Back to the dunk, and what might've led up to it, after the game Williamson said that Phoenix eliminating New Orleans last postseason in a six-game, first-round series was on his mind. [Chris Paul](/nba/players/555969/chris-paul/) and Pelicans guard [Jose Alvarado](/nba/players/2892395/jose-alvarado/) seemed to get into a bit of a shouting/shoving match, and then a whole lot more shouting and shoving ensued, though it appears no punches or significant blows were thrown. "But I was in that locker room and my brothers were down because the Suns sent us home last year. [NBA](/nba/) guard Antonio Daniels saying, "No, no, no!"

Zion Williamson and Jose Alvarado combined for 55 points as the Pelicans won their sixth consecutive game.

"I got carried away a little bit," Williamson said. The Suns took issue with Williamson's slam. With 6:52 remaining in the third quarter, Williamson scored a transition layup despite getting fouled by Suns center Jock Landale. Williamson converted the three-point play at the free-throw line. Booker shot 5 of 17 from the field. When Alvarado came on late in the first quarter, the Pelicans trailed by eight points. Williamson got into the paint at will. The Suns deployed Torrey Craig on Williamson. Alvarado hit three 3-pointers in his first stint on the floor. Alvarado scored 20 points, including 16 in the first half. I guess it’s always going to be a playoff game for us.” Alvarado got battered as he tried to navigate through a screen.

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Phoenix Suns post game quotes from Pelicans head coach Willie Green and players on Friday, December 9, 2022.

The Suns are a great team and a great organization. We are not going to let it go until we eliminate them in the playoffs or if we are in the playoffs and they are staying at home.” “We know we are going to have to compete. It’s always going to be a playoff game for us. “It was great, we love it and we love playing here on our home floor in New Orleans. Every game we play against them is going to be physical and really locked in.

The Pelicans defeated the Suns on Friday night and tempers flared as time expired following Zion Williamson's closing dunk.

With every win, this Pelicans team is looking more like a force in the West. In the end, not much actually happened during the faceoff on the floor. And with every performance like this, Zion continues to make his case as a potential MVP candidate. The Pelicans got their sixth win in a row on Friday night behind another sublime performance from Williamson. It’s part of basketball,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “That stuff doesn’t bother me at all, man.

Zion Williamson apologized for his 360-degree, one-handed dunk that angered the Phoenix Suns at the end of a game the New Orleans Pelicans had all but won.

I’ve got to get the guys in the game that are going to be physical and smart enough to handle the pressure that they give you in the paint.” “I felt like there was just no sportsmanship, and we don’t really like that. It was a bunch of guys out there yelling and screaming and not even pushing. “The game was pretty much over, and they just kept playing,” Payne said. I admit that.” I admit that,” Williamson said.

NEW ORLEANS – Zion Williamson's dunk wasn't the real reason behind the altercation between the Pelicans and the Suns on Friday night.

Until then, the Suns will be spending a lot of time watching those Zion highlights and hearing talk of the Pelicans’ coronation as the new “it” team in the Western Conference. “We look forward to the challenges. Alvarado’s fearless mindset is a trait the Pelicans take pride in as a team. At one point, Alvarado looked up to Paul and everything he’s done to make his name as one of the greatest floor generals in league history. The scuffle after Zion’s big dunk started with Alvarado and Paul exchanging words, and it’s safe to say it won’t be the last time things get spicy between these two. Alvarado, who was questionable going into Friday’s game with a rib contusion, said afterward that there was no way he would miss the game if “that person” was playing, refusing to say Paul’s name. It was perhaps the loudest home crowd Zion has experienced while on the court since his NBA debut in 2020. Before joining the Pelicans, Willie Green was a lead assistant under Williams, his most trusted lieutenant as the Suns made their run to the NBA Finals in 2021. It just makes me mad sometimes when he gets right to (the rim) and it’s just layup, layup, layup, spin off the glass layup, spin dunk. Instead, a feisty 36-win [New Orleans](https://theathletic.com/nba/team/pelicans/) squad gave the 64-win Suns everything they could handle before bowing out after six games. After sitting atop the West for most of the last two-plus seasons, Phoenix probably looks at New Orleans as a young squad biting off more than it can chew before putting any real accomplishments on their wall. That’s certainly the case with the Pelicans and Suns.

The Pelicans' biggest rival, as of Friday night, is now officially the Phoenix Suns. The tension between the two teams is about as high as Zion Williamson was ...

When the game starts, in between those lines, we are going to compete. Assuming both teams continue playing like they have the first part of the season, it’s a rivalry that could pick up some steam, much like the rivalry within the rivalry. They are going to go after it and that’s what happened tonight.” We look forward to the challenges. I was in that locker room when my brothers were down because the Suns sent us home last year. Their feud added a new chapter after the dunk that Williamson says he regrets. We know we can compete with the best. The Pelicans got some revenge, winning 128-117 in an atmosphere that felt more like a playoff game than just a regular-season game in December. Some of the Suns’ players weren’t pleased with the dunk because the game had already been decided. "I felt like there was just no sportsmanship and we don't really like that. Williamson put the exclamation point on the night with a powerful 360-degree windmill dunk with 1.9 seconds left. The Pelicans’ biggest rival, as of Friday night, is officially the Phoenix Suns.

Don't waste energy and focus on the final 2 seconds of Friday's matchup between elite Western Conference teams and whatever that was. Instead, run ...

(17 points, nine rebounds) and Naji Marshall (14 points) are providing New Orleans with some of the NBA’s best second-unit production, also delivering immeasurable energy and toughness. The Pelicans are 11-3 overall at home this season (only Boston, Cleveland, Golden State and Memphis have fewer home defeats). As frustrated Phoenix players walked toward the New Orleans bench to provide their two cents to anyone who might listen after the buzzer Friday, Pelicans coaches began waving to their own players to walk away and return to the home locker room, avoiding any unnecessary issues following Zion Williamson’s spinning, roof-shaking dunk in the Smoothie King Center.

The Suns hate the fact that Zion Williamson threw down an acrobatic dunk in the dying seconds on Friday when the game was already over.

Alvarado got under Paul’s skin in last year’s playoffs and Paul responded by kicking him squarely in the family jewels. But first, they have another appointment in New Orleans on Sunday, in a battle that will be absolute must-watch TV. The Pelicans, meanwhile, clearly think the Suns are being more than a little dramatic, and had One major subplot to watch here is Jose Alvarado versus Chris Paul. [April 25, 2022] “Get back on defense.”

Zion Williamson's dunks can shatter glass, break rims and start fights. Friday night, he wished one dunk could change the past.

I admit that. A rivalry was born in the playoffs series, when Paul butchered Alvarado’s name and Alvarado later declared, “he knows my name now,” after he frustrated him defensively in the series. The Suns had plenty of problems with Williamson’s throw-down.

33.5 to 25.9: With the Suns down seven, Chris Paul tries to create against Jose Alvarado. · 23.6 to 18.2: CJ McCollum catches the airball. · 18.2 to 9.2: Cam ...

Paul played it coy, alternating between "it is what it is" and "I don't know" when asked about the back-and-forth with Alvarado. After the series-clincher, Alvarado was asked about his battles with Paul and capped it with, "I bet he knows my name now." We aren't that far removed from Williamson's commitment level — to himself, and to the Pelicans at large — being questioned. I'm 10,000% here for older teams being petty, and younger teams rocking the boat. We do the right thing and I feel like they should've did the right thing and they didn't. It didn't change the outcome of the game, and no crime was committed. It's a callback to his excitement about finally Paul drives by the half-hearted stance of Zion Williamson, past a soul-less dig — if you want to call it that — from Nance Jr., then takes a mostly uncontested layup. Payne had the most to say on the Suns' side, all in the name of ... He could dribble the ball out, but instead chucks it ahead to Larry Nance Jr. - 18.2 to 9.2: Cam Payne frantically dribbles the ball up the left side of the floor. - 23.6 to 18.2: CJ McCollum catches the airball.

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker has been listed as questionable on the team's injury report for Sunday's game vs. the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Suns, who have lost three consecutive games, play at the Pelicans again on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. [according to Rankin](https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1601646667887161344). [per azcentral’s Duane Rankin.](https://twitter.com/DuaneRankin/status/1602003948700835841)

Devin Booker is on the injury report for Sunday's game between the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans.

Suns superstar Devin Booker is dealing with hamstring discomfort that could keep him out of Sunday's game against the Pelicans.

Expect tempers to remain high on Sunday after the teams nearly came to blows following Williamson’s “out of character” last-second slam. Booker has staked a legitimate MVP claim over the first seven weeks of 2022-23, averaging 27.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game on solid shooting efficiency. Booker struggled in the first of his team’s consecutive games against New Orleans, scoring 14 points on 5-of-17 shooting. “Just got to wait and see. “We’re just going to see how he progresses,” Phoenix’s head coach said of Booker’s hamstring, per Duane Rankin of Arizona Republic. Too bad [Devin Booker](/nba/players/b19d09ab/devin-booker) could be primed to miss Sunday’s matchup between these contentious Western Conference powers.