Little changed in 24 hours for the Phoenix Suns and the New Orleans Pelicans.

Devin Booker led the Suns in scoring, they had an important advantage on the offensive glass and they held off the Pelicans 123-114 on Saturday night in the Smoothie King Center, one night after their 115-108 victory in the same building.

Booker didn’t have 30 points like he did Friday, but he did have six of his team-best 20 in pivotal stretch of the fourth quarter.

Dillon Brooks added 18 points, Collin Gillespie scored 17, Jordan Goodwin had 16, Royce O’Neale had 15, Jamoree Bouyear scored 12 (10 in the fourth quarter) and Mark Williams added 10 and eight offensive rebounds before being ejected along with the Pelicans’ Jose Alvarado after a confrontation late in the third quarter.

Trey Murphy III scored 24 (making a season-high six 3-pointers), Zion Williamson scored 22, Derik Queen, playing on his 21st birthday finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Jeremiah Fears had 18 and a season-high eight rebounds and Saddiq Bey scored 17 to lead the Pelicans (8-25), who will play the New York Knicks at 7 p.m. Monday in the Smoothie King Center.

Phoenix had a season-high 22 offensive rebounds and 30 second-chance points after having 16 offensive rebounds and 23 second-chance points Friday, though for the second consecutive night they improved in the second half.

But it wasn’t good enough.

“That first half they killed us (on the boards),” Williamson said. “When you look at the end of the game those are the small nuances that affect the game. Last game it was free throws. This game it was offensive boards.

“It’s hard to win in the NBA. If you want to win you’ve got to do the little things. It was an effort thing. They definitely out-hustled us. We’re giving up too many easy baskets.”

And they’re not making enough east baskets. Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego counted 21 missed layups by his team.

Queen scored 10 points as New Orleans began the second half with a 16-8 run to get within 73-71. Brooks’ 3-pointer stopped the run and Phoenix (18-13) quickly expanded the lead to 10.

The Pelicans pulled within 87-83 on a Murphy 3-pointer before the Suns increased the lead to 93-85 at the end of the period.

Bey scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to trim the lead to four, but Phoenix quickly increased the lead to 102-91. Bey and Queen scored four each and Murphy’s 3-pointer concluded a 9-0 run that got New Orleans within 107-104.

Booker scored seven straight Suns points and Booker added a jumper for a nine-point lead with 1:50 left.

“We’ve got to execute better down the stretch,” Borrego said.

One thing that did change from Friday to Saturday is that the Pelicans shot much better from the free throw-line.

New Orleans, which entered Friday’s game with the best free-throw shooting percentage in the NBA during December (.853), made just 59.5 percent (25-of-42) on Friday, dropping it to fifth place (81.8) for December.

“It’s a lack of focus – period,” Borrego said of the uncharacteristic misses before Saturday’s game.

The Pelicans obviously were more focused Saturday, shooting 87.9 percent (29 of 33) on free throws. But they made just nine of 27 3-pointers even after making four of their first eight.

Borrego was particularly perturbed that his team had just 16 assists on 38 field goals. Murphy said the goal is to have at least 30 in each game.

“That’s the issue right now,” Borrego said of the short-coming on assists.

The Pelicans started even worse on the boards Saturday than they did Friday. After having seven offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points in the first quarter Friday, Phoenix had 10 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points in the first period Saturday.

The quarter featured four ties and a fifth lead change came on a layup by Alvarado with 14.9 seconds left, giving New Orleans a 33-32 edge at the end of the period.

Gillespie made a 3-pointer to start the second-quarter scoring and he added two more during a 16-6 run that gave the Suns a 48-38 lead. Phoenix led by 12 points on three occasions before Williamson’s layup trimmed the lead to 65-55 at halftime.

Phoenix finished the half with 17 offensive rebounds (one more than it had for the game Friday) and 24 second-chance points (one more than it finished with Friday).

Overall the Suns out-rebounded the Pelicans 55-43 after out-rebounding them 52-38 on Friday.

“(Rebounding) is an identity piece of theirs,” Borrego said. “They’re physical, aggressive and intentional with their rebounding. We’ve got to be the same.”