On January 3, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Hornets in the east seventh against the second place in the West, due to the absence of Ayton and McGee triggering the league security agreement, the Suns were not strong on the inside line, the last 4 games lost 3 games, but the Hornets who won three consecutive games were full of momentum. However, in this game, the sun blossomed more, the situation on the field was completely one-sided, the whole team scored as many as 7 people in double figures, the two sides after 4 quarters of the fight, in the end there was no accident, the Suns beat the Hornets by 34 points to usher in a big win, this victory is too important for the morale of the Suns, like a timely rain. It is worth mentioning that the Suns leader Paul was very low-key in this game and only scored 7 points in 6 shots, however, he sent 16 assists, after the game, Paul also said that although there were not too many shots, but also maintained aggressiveness, he has never been a player who values data, only hope to bring the team victory.
Ayton's absence gave Jaylen Smith a chance, and he scored 19 points in the last game, and he continued his good form in this game, scoring 19 points and 12 rebounds on 8-of-15 shooting, effectively filling Ayton's gap. More importantly, he staged a good play of the partition plumlee during the game, which pushed the atmosphere of the scene to a climax. It is worth mentioning that the 2020 first round No. 10 rookie did not get many performance opportunities at the Suns, averaging only 13 minutes per game this season and can score 6.8 points and 4.9 rebounds. After the game, Jaylen Smith said the reason for his big explosion, he said that the coach let me keep my passion on the field all the time. To be sure, his playing time will improve. In this game, the Suns started 5 players, except for Paul, who did not score in double-figures, the other 4 all double-figured, and more importantly, there were 3 players on the bench who scored in double figures.
Hornets old player Bi Yongbo also ushered in the debut, against the old owner he can not be soft at all, off the bench in the game 7 shots 5 of 7 shots to get 11 points, 6 rebounds and 1 block, in the offensive end of the performance is not bad. In the game, he and Booker cooperated tacitly, not only to block Smith, but also to play a strong 2+1. The Hornets will usher in the second spring of the Suns. Compared to the Suns' offensive power, the Hornets are much inferior, no one scored 20 points in the whole game, only Ball and Oubre performed well, the former was 5 of 12 shots, including 3 of 6 three-pointers, 17 points, the latter 6 of 10 shots, including 3 of 7 three-pointers, 15 points. One thing to say is that in a chaotic environment, the Hornets can still rank 7th in the East with a record of 19 wins and 18 losses, and the result is still acceptable, after all, the Celtics and other giants have not entered the top 8 in the East. For the Suns, after a week of slump, they are on the right track again, and now that they are only 0.5 wins away from the Warriors at the top of the West, Paul may lead the team back to the league at any time.