NEW ORLEANS – Devin Booker scored 52 points against the New Orleans Pelicans at the King Smoothie Centre for the second time this season as the visiting Phoenix Suns tightened the Western Conference play-off race with a 124-111 victory on April 1.

The 27-year-old guard, who had also racked up the same tally in a 123-109 win on Jan 19, delivered an encore performance to help the Suns (44-31) pull within one game of the sixth-placed Pelicans (45-30), boosting their hopes of clinching an automatic play-off berth.