The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Phoenix Suns 118-103 in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Sunday, tying the series 2-2.

Brandon Ingram shot 11-of-23 from the floor to score the court-high 30 points, four rebounds and five assists for the Pelicans, dropping 30+ points in three straight games. While continuing shooting to kill in the middle range, Ingram also increased his aggressiveness by constantly charging the rim. The Suns' defenders couldn't stop him at all, but had to watch him earn 10 free throws and make seven of them.

In fact, staying aggressive was the key word for the whole team of the Pelicans on both offense and defense. Jonas Valanciunas had a double-double of 26 points and 15 rebounds, leaving Deandre Ayton with no extra energy to help his teammates on the defensive and rebounding fronts. Without Ayton's big coverage, the Suns had no other choice but to commit fouls to slow the opponents down and allowed a lethal number of offensive rebounds.

The Pelicans led in free throws (42-15 in attempts, 32-10 in points scored) and offensive rebounds 19-12. Their defensive performance was also incredible. First-year rookie Herbert Jones delivered two steals and three blocks in Sunday's game, all denying 3-pointers from the front. Jose Alvarado kept pressing the Suns' back court in the fourth quarter and even forced an eight-second violation by Chris Paul.

Both Jones and Alvarado are rookies. Ingram is playing his sixth NBA season but he is only 24, not to mention this his first postseason series. They can't match Paul, Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges or even Ayton in playoff experience, but the Pelicans made up for the gap by sparing no efforts and exploiting their advantage in stamina.

Coach Willie Green also deserves great credit for planning the game, especially in containing Paul. The Pelicans were in a favorable position in Game 3 but Paul scored 19 points in the fourth quarter alone to reverse the situation for the Suns. In order not to repeat history, the Pelicans refused to switch when defending the screen plays by Paul. They were willing to rotate to cover Paul's teammates rather than having a big man facing Paul and his ability of shooting to kill in mismatch.

As a result, Ayton and JaVale McGee combined 18-for-21 in field goals (FGs), most in the paint, to score 37 points, but Paul only made two of his eight attempts to get four points. Alvarado almost glued himself to Paul from the fourth quarter, making the almost-37-year-old veteran work hard to even move forward on the floor.

Paul reached career lows in points (4), triples made (0) and free throw attempts (0) in the playoffs. The last time he had only four points in a postseason game, his team (the New Orleans hornets) lost to the Denver Nuggets 121-64 in 2009.

Game 5 of the series will happen at the Footprint Center on Tuesday.

Nuggets stay alive in the series

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Golden State Warriors 126-121 in Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday, making the series 3-1 instead of being swept 4-0.

One of the Nuggets' biggest improvements in this game was how the team could share the offensive burden with Nikola Jokic from outside. The team shot 15-of-31 from downtown, with four guys draining two or more 3-pointers at an FG rate of higher than 40 percent.

When the Warriors' defenders had to keep watching out for perimeter firepower of the Nuggets, Jokic could focus on destroying Kevon Looney and Draymond Green one-on-one without having to worry about help defense. He shot 14-of-21 from the field to score 37 points, 33 of which took place in the first three quarters, including 18 in the first quarter.

Jokic's teammates also contributed rare offensive aggressiveness in Sunday's game by earning 30 free throws. Aaron Gordon, who averaged only 11 points in the previous three playoff games, walked to the free throw line 13 times and scored 10 points there alone. Such performance further aggravated the foul trouble of the Warriors' defenders. Both Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala were called five fouls. Green was fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had to send Jonathan Kuminga, who only appeared in garbage time in the previous postseason games, to the court in the second quarter. The first-year rookie scored nine points, but needed time to get used to playoff defensive duty.

Despite the excellent offensive performance by the Nuggets, the Warriors kept the suspense of the game until the last minute because the opponents might be able to stop Jordan Poole, but they couldn't contain Stephen Curry and Thompson at the same time.

Thompson made seven triples in Sunday's game to get 32 points, including 22 in the second half. Curry continued to appear off the bench, but he still had 33 points after earning 14 free throws. Andrew Wiggins exploited the defensive distraction of the two to shoot 7-for-9 under the hoop, scoring 20 points.

The Warriors are going back to the Chase Center for Game 5 on Wednesday. That seems a good opportunity to put Poole back to the bench and add Curry to the starting lineup.

The Heat are tired of waiting

The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks 110-86 in Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoffs at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Sunday, turning the series 3-1.

Jimmy Butler again showed dominance on both offense and defense to score 36 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Instead of testing his unreliable middle-range shooting, Butler kept charging the Hawks' paint and scored 20 points there. Moreover, he also made 11 free throws.

The Heat were more aggressive defensively on Sunday than the previous three games. Not only did they shut Trae Young out of the paint, where he only took one shot and missed, the Heat even began to double-team Kevin Huerter at certain points of the game. As a result, the Hawks were completely disconnected on offense between inside and outside. They drained 15 triples in Game 4, the best so far in the series, but only scored 26 points in the paint. Clint Capela returned from knee injury for the Hawks on Sunday, but he could barely receive the ball under the rim.

Trailing 3-1 means every of the following games means win-or-go-home for the Hawks. The Heat have been neither too hot nor too cold behind the arc, which is acceptable to the Hawks. As Capela came back, they shouldn't fear Bam Adebayo too much. However, Butler seems unstoppable to the Hawks' defense so far. Young will need to perform like him on offense if he wants to extend the series longer.

Game 5 of the series will happen at the FTX Arena on Tuesday.

Bucks come up with new defensive tricks

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls 119-95 in Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoffs at United Center in Chicago on Sunday, leading the series 3-1.

Giannis Antetokounmpo turned on his charging mode in this game, dropping 32 points and 17 rebounds for the Bucks. While he was dominating the paint, his teammates rained 14 triples at 46.7-percent of FG rate. Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen combined to make 11 shots from downtown.

Scoring was never a problem for the Bucks in this series. Figuring out how to contain the Bulls' offense made for a more interesting mission for the reigning champions. They tried double-teaming DeMar DeRozan before, which worked well. But in Sunday's game, the Bucks made Zach LaVine the new victim of their trapping defense.

As the Bulls' best-performing player in the first quarter, LaVine shot 5-of-8 to get 12 points and four assists. In response, the Bucks left the rest of the team open at the 3-point line and began to double-team LaVine without hesitation. As a result, LaVine took only three FG attempts and missed all of them in the second quarter. Patrick Williams, Vucevic and Derrick Jones Jr. combined three 3-pointers, trying to help from outside, but the Bucks barely flinched.

DeRozan didn't have to face multiple defenders at the same time in this game, but neither Holiday nor Wesley Matthews was easy to beat, not to mention that they refused to let DeRozan drive from right. As a result, DeRozan missed 12 of his 20 FG attempts, including the five triples he had to take from downtown.

Game 5 of the series will take place at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday.