Suns rally, then hold on to beat Hornets in OT

Eventually, Markieff Morris helped the Suns close out a wild victory.

Morris made a key 3-pointer in overtime and finished with a career-high 23 points as Phoenix handed the New Orleans Hornets their sixth loss in a row with a 111-108 victory on Friday night.

Goran Dragic added 20 points for Phoenix, including 12 in the final 6½ minutes of the third quarter.

The Suns overcame career performances by Ryan Anderson and Greivis Vasquez. Anderson scored a career-high 34 points for New Orleans, going 8 for 13 from beyond the arc. Vasquez had 25 points and 14 assists, both career bests.

Anderson had 25 points in the second half and overtime, 14 of them as New Orleans ran out to the big lead in the third quarter. He went 7 for 10 from 3-point range after halftime.

"I can honestly say I've never seen anybody shoot it like that," Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said. "That was Larry Bird-like if you ask me, and I don't know if Larry Bird shot 3s like that. Talk about shooting them under duress — he had one good look and the other ones, we were right there, I mean we were right there and he just got it up and knocked it in."

Anderson shrugged off his career night and talked about his team's 19 turnovers.

"We have a lot of games like this," he said. "We've just had a lot of games come down to the stretch."

After blowing their big lead, the Hornets forced overtime by scoring the final eight points of regulation.

"We go from being down 19 to up 11, so that's a 30-point swing," Gentry said, "but we just couldn't quite close it out."

P.J. Tucker had 15 points for Phoenix, also a career best. Jermaine O'Neal had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

New Orleans was without Anthony Davis for the third game in a row because of a stress reaction in his left ankle. It was the second overtime game in a row for the Hornets, who lost 115-107 at Indiana on Wednesday.

Morris was in his second game as a starter. He scored 19 in his first game in the opening lineup on Wednesday.