Bledsoe and Green lead Suns over Pelicans


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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Eric Bledsoe had 25 points, Gerald Green tied a career high with six 3-pointers and the Phoenix Suns rallied to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 104-98 on Tuesday night.

Trailing 60-50, the Suns scored 28 points in the last 6:23 of the third quarter to go ahead 78-69 and led the rest of the way.

The Pelicans cut the deficit to 87-85 in the fourth, but Bledsoe finished them off with three driving layups.

Green scored 18, Markieff Morris had 17 points and twin brother Marcus Morris added 16 points for the Suns.

Eric Gordon led New Orleans with 20 points but had only six in the second half. Anthony Davis had a quiet first half before finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Jrue Holiday had nine assists but only three points on 1 of 7 shooting.

The Pelicans used an 11-0 run to go up 56-46 early in the third quarter but had no answer for the Suns' outburst a few minutes later. At one point, Phoenix hit 12 of 13 shots and six 3-pointers in a row.

Green started the streak with an open 3-pointer, the first of six for Phoenix during its big run. Bledsoe scored on a transition layup, then drilled an outside jumper. Green pulled up for another 3-pointer to tie the score at 60, and Markieff Morris sank a 3 to give the Suns a 63-62 lead.

Less than a minute later, Morris drained another one from long range. Green then made his sixth 3-pointer, tying a career high, as Phoenix went ahead 71-64.

The Suns weren't finished. After the Pelicans closed to 73-69 on Brian Roberts' 3-pointer, P.J. Tucker hit a 3 with 52.3 seconds left and Marcus Morris closed the quarter with a put-back layup to make the score 78-69.

The Pelicans had a chance to tie in the fourth, but Gordon lost the ball in traffic, leading to Bledsoe's breakout layup that made the score 89-85. Bledsoe then split two defenders on a drive for an easy basket to pad the lead to 95-88 and made an uncontested layup for a 97-90 advantage with 1:23 left.

The Pelicans led 28-17 at the end of the first quarter despite playing without Holiday for all but the opening 2:09 after he picked up two quick fouls and getting only two points and two rebounds from Davis.

At that point, New Orleans appeared headed for an easy night. Instead, the Pelicans committed six turnovers in a sloppy second quarter, allowing the Suns to pull within 45-41 at the half.

Phoenix played without guard Goran Dragic, who sprained his left ankle in the second quarter against Oklahoma City on Sunday and is listed as day-to-day.

Notes: The Pelicans, who entered as the NBA's best 3-point shooting team at 50 percent (18 of 36), raised that percentage by hitting 10 of 17 even though leading 3-point shooter Ryan Anderson has not played this season with a chipped bone on second right toe. ... The Suns won despite having only four second-chance points.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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