On December 14, Beijing time, when the Suns lacked the two cores of Booker and Ayton, Paul single-core led the team into a single-handed dilemma, and they lost to the Clippers, who were also remnants of the uncarried. Paul only scored 9 points and 8 assists on 4-of-14 shooting, including 0 points in the second half, becoming one of the important factors for the Suns to reverse, and the Suns were overtaken by the Warriors who lost 22 wins and 5 losses, losing the first place in the league.
As the opponent of last season's Western Conference Finals, the Suns eliminated the Clippers 4-2 on aggregate in six games to advance to the Finals. Now the two teams have met in a narrow way this season, and the result is that both sides are playing in a crippled lineup, the Suns are missing two core Booker and Ayton, and the whole team has 6 injuries, and the Clippers are missing Leonard and George's two cores, and the whole team has 4 injuries.
In such a brutal battle, Paul was not able to continue the heroic state of the previous single-core team, he contributed 9 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in the first half, but the Suns did not have anyone score in double figures in the first two quarters, while the Clippers scored in double figures with 3 people, and the Suns trailed by 12 points in the first two quarters.
By the second half, the Suns were behind by 15 points at the beginning of the third quarter, but Paul still led the team to chase points in the second half, especially in the final quarter, when the gap was only 8 points. It was only the Clippers who then blossomed at multiple points to play a wave of flow offensive attack to open the score, and the Suns were pulled away from behind by a gap of 20+. The Suns were already powerless to counterattack in the second half of the final quarter, and naturally they had no choice but to lose the game.
The Suns suffered the second defeat in the last 22 games, their record became 21 wins and 5 losses, the Warriors used today's reversal of the Pacers, the record improved to 22 wins and 5 losses, so the Suns were overtaken by the Warriors by 0.5 wins, which also allowed the Suns to give up the first place in the league.
Needless to say, the Suns and Warriors' all-league first battle will continue, while Booker returns to the unknown due to a hamstring injury, and Ayton continues to hang the free card because of illness. The suns with a single core are led by Paul, and they will face a more severe test, which is also another alarm for Paul and the sun.
(Text/Drunken Floating Life)