Pelicans' Zion Williamson dominates Suns, race to avoid play-in continues

As the Phoenix Suns continue their quest to secure a top-six playoff seed and avoid the upcoming play-in tournament, they couldn't climb over Mount Zion in their home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

The Pelicans' former No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson filled out the stat sheet with 29 points (11-of-21 shooting), and 10 rebounds, matching Devin Booker's game-high seven assists, and adding a career-high five blocks, and one steal.

"He dominated the game on both sides of the ball," Suns coach Frank Vogel said after the game. "Five blocks, I mean we got around him a few times and made some moves with (Bradley) Beal in the perimeter, but just an exceptional performance by Zion, credit to him.”

Devin Booker (25 points in the loss) was the best player on the floor the last three times Phoenix beat New Orleans with his 50-plus bombs for a combined 162 points.

On Sunday, it was Williamson on both ends of the Footprint Center floor as he and CJ McCollum (31 points) drove the Pelicans down the stretch.

Williamson could've been marked for two additional steals. That includes when he nearly stripped Kevin Durant (23 points, six assists) twice when Durant tried to dribble past him on an isolation play late in the third quarter but was called for a foul, and when Williamson intercepted a pass from Devin Booker in the closing minutes, but was called for stepping out of bounds upon the catch.

“He has been getting better and better defensively as the season progressed. Zion was everywhere," Pelicans coach Willie Green said. "He was guarding the ball. He was blocking shots. Coming up with big-time offensive rebounds. Attacking the basket. Making his free throws. Incredible performance. He carried us.”

The Suns almost overcame their biggest deficit 12 in the third quarter by briefly taking a 96-95 lead with around eight minutes left to play.

Bradley Beal (game-high 33 points) pushed the Suns with his 15 in the fourth, but Williamson closed the final period as he scored 12 and hit five of the Pelicans' final six field goals. Those included the shot that put the Pelicans ahead, 97-96, the dagger floater to put them up by six at 29 seconds remaining, plus three of his five blocks.

As the Suns were down 103-99 at 4:35 left to play, Williamson's best highlight of the game was his last block that punched down Durant's layup and ricocheted off the backboard to send a resounding message that the Suns weren't going to sweep the three-game season series with the Pelicans, who won 113-105.

“It’s just kind of one of those 'At the end of the game, make a play,'" Williamson said. "Sometimes it's not that the play's gonna get executed exactly how you want it to, but you just kind of take it upon yourself and say I'm about to make a play."

The Suns have four games left before the play-in tournament begins on April 16, Sunday’s Suns-Pelicans game was a must-win as both teams are looking to avoid the Western Conference play-in games’ seventh through 10th seeds, and the standings remain tight.

As of Monday, Dallas, Phoenix, New Orleans, Sacramento, and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the Nos. 5-9 spots, respectively, and the Lakers are 3.5 games behind Dallas.

Phoenix hosts the L.A. Clippers, which are fourth in the West, on Tuesday in the first of a back-to-back against them, with the Wednesday game in Los Angeles. The Suns close out on the road Friday at Sacramento (eighth in the West) and at Minnesota on Sunday (first in the West).

Phoenix’s loss to New Orleans technically made them tied for sixth because they have the same record at 45-32, but Phoenix owns the tiebreaker. Phoenix's Sunday loss ended its three-game win streak, and snapped New Orleans’ four-game skid that briefly slid the Pelicans from fifth to seventh.

"It's that time of the season. Every game is important," Williamson said. "As a team, we're gonna take it one game at a time, but every game for us is important."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson dominated the Phoenix Suns