Paul helps Suns overcome Booker's absence to beat Pelicans for 2-1 lead in series
Young hits floater with 4.4 seconds left to give Hawks win over Heat; Bucks rout Bulls
Chris Paul scored 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and the visiting Phoenix Suns overcame Devin Booker's absence to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 114-111 on Friday night in Game 3 of the first-round series.
Booker strained his right hamstring Tuesday night after scoring 31 first-half points in a 125-114 home loss. He sat on the bench during Game 3.
Mikal Bridges had 17 points for the Suns. Backup centre JaVale McGee scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting as the Suns hurt the Pelicans inside.
POINT GOD. SO CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/W9qKE9dIvv">pic.twitter.com/W9qKE9dIvv</a>
—@SunsBrandon Ingram led New Orleans with 34 points. CJ McCollum had 30.
Game 4 is Sunday night in New Orleans.
Hawks rally past Heat
Trae Young hit a floater in the lane with 4.4 seconds left and the Atlanta Hawks overcame a 16-point deficit in the second half to beat top-seeded Miami, cutting the visiting Heat's series lead to 2-1.
P.J. Tucker led a 21-0 run in the third quarter that pushed the Heat to an 84-68 lead and seemingly on cruise control to a 3-0 lead. But Young and the Hawks would not let them get away.
The Heat also were dealing with an injury to point guard Kyle Lowry, who went out in the third quarter with a hamstring problem and did not return. He'll undergo tests Saturday to determine the severity of the injury.
FLOAT GAME OUTRAGEOUS <a href="https://t.co/C1ikvGTXdx">pic.twitter.com/C1ikvGTXdx</a>
—@ATLHawksYoung finished with 24 points despite another stout defensive effort by the Heat. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 18, Hunter 17 and three others scored in double figures to take some of the pressure off the star guard.
The start was delayed about 45 minutes after a suspicious package was found outside State Farm Arena before the game.
Bucks breeze pastĀ Bulls
Grayson Allen made five 3-pointers and scored 22 points and the visiting Milwaukee Bucks dominated the Chicago Bulls to take a 2-1 series lead without the injured Khris Middleton.
Middleton is expected to miss the rest of the series after spraining his left knee in Wednesday night in a loss. Game 4 is Sunday in Chicago.
Antetokounmpo scored all but two of his points after the first quarter. The two-time MVP finished with nine assists and seven rebounds.
Tough bucket. š¤ <a href="https://t.co/nR9XMTgTMG">pic.twitter.com/nR9XMTgTMG</a>
—@BucksNikola Vucevic led Chicago with 19 points.
