Basketball – NBA | Davis scores 53, Pelicans beat Suns for sixth straight win

New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23)

Anthony Davis’ authoritative put-back dunk in the final minutes summed up a night on which his relentless play around the basket forced Phoenix’s three tallest players to foul out.

Davis scored a season-high 53 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked five shots, and the New Orleans Pelicans extended their winning streak to six with a 125-116 victory over the hapless Phoenix Suns yesterday [Macau time].

“Thank, you Anthony, for carrying us,” Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday said. “Look at his numbers, man. He’s something else.”

Davis has scored no fewer than 27 points in a game during New Orleans’ streak, scoring at least 38 five times and more than 40 four times.

After the 6-foot-10 Davis hit his 21st free throw, the Suns had to guard the Pelicans’ All-Star power forward with 6-foot-8 small forward Josh Jackson because 7-footers Dragan Bender and Alex Len and 6-foot-10 Marquese Chriss had all fouled out with nearly five minutes still to play.

“A lot of their bigs were in foul trouble. I just wanted to hang around the rim as much as possible, knowing I had the size advantage,” Davis said. “We’ll take any type of win, any type of way we can get it.”

Holiday scored 20 points for the Pelicans, whose season-best unbeaten run has pulled them into a tie with Portland for fifth place in the Western Conference despite being without All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, who was lost for the season Jan. 26 with a torn Achilles.

Emeka Okafor, brought back to the NBA for the first time since 2013 about a week after Cousins’ injury, scored 14 points.

“Right now, everybody’s playing their part. Everybody’s doing it together,” Davis said. “And then we’re doing it without one of our main guys, so it makes it more special, especially when everybody thought we were going to go down in the standings. We’re actually moving up.”

Devin Booker had 40 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix, which lost its 10th straight and still has not won this month. T.J. Warren added 23 points and Josh Jackson had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who led by as many as 17 in the second quarter but fell behind for good with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

New Orleans native Elfrid Payton scored 16 points, and his layup pulled Phoenix within 116-114 with 2:29 left, but the Pelicans scored the next five points on Darius Miller’s 3 and Holiday’s driving dunk, and Phoenix did not threaten again.

“We are playing a lot better and I like that we are still fighting. Executing down the stretch is something that will come with us,” Booker said. “We are a young team and we have to learn that.”

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry angrily called a couple timeouts in the first half after watching Phoenix score easily on open shots.Brett Martel, New Orleans, AP