Paul Booker recreates the killing mid-range Don't play the key ball with the Suns

According to sports weekly all media (reporter Li Hui)

The Phoenix Suns proved once again that they should never play key balls with them. The away game against the Raptors is not easy for the Suns, before this game, they just lost to the Miami Heat at home with a huge 23-point difference, the team's recent state is also ups and downs, in contrast, the Raptors are one of the best teams in the East recently, winning seven consecutive games, including the last 12 home games, the Raptors won 10 games.

Due to Canada's epidemic prevention regulations, the Raptors home stadium is limited to 2,000 spectators, the game can be said to be played in an atmosphere that does not have any basketball games, the Raptors are obviously more adapted to this atmosphere, they rely on strong defense, and the Suns, who have a better record than them.

The whole game, the two teams failed to open the score, the game also entered the key moment again, before this game, the Raptors' record at the key moment was 9 wins and 8 losses, a decent performance, the Suns was 13 wins and 3 losses, the league's top performance, the final result of the game also directly reflected the gap between the two teams in the key ball ability.

With 1:05 left in the game, the Suns were 89-90 behind, but Booker hit a drifting shot immediately after receiving his teammate's front-line serve to reverse the score, and then the Suns defended Siakam's offense and handed the ball to Chris Paul, the best scorer at the crucial moment, paul faced the Raptors' defense and used his best scoring defense, he carried the ball to the right free throw line position, completed a drift mid-range, and pulled the point difference to a large 3 points.

This point difference also finally determined the outcome of the game, after which the Suns adopted the tactics of penalty shootout, they let the Raptors only get 2 points per round at most, and they were confident enough to be able to take the ball in their own round, in the final penalty shootout stage, Devin Booker, who had already carried 5 fouls, still firmly implemented Monty Williams's tactics, making him six fouls out of the field, because the Suns and Booker firmly believed that they did not need to play overtime with their opponents, and finally Booker, Paul, and Ayton made six free throws. Didn't give the Raptors any chance to turn around.

With such a win, the Suns improved their record to 31 wins and 9 losses, leaving the Warriors who lost today to occupy the first place in the league alone, while the Suns' record in key games reached 14 wins and 3 losses, also ranked 1 in the league, and in second place was the 12-5 Memphis Grizzlies.

There is no doubt that Paul is the most important reason why the Suns are so good at playing key balls, not only can he keep his head cool at key moments and let his teammates complete the scoring, but paul's personal offense in key moments is also impeccable, so far this season, Paul has made a total of 14 of 26 shots in key moments, 19 of 23 free throws, 18 assists, and only 4 turnovers, and his cumulative plus-minus in key moments has reached +53, leading the league.

When a team has such a strong key ball ability, you can undoubtedly expect more from this team, because in the playoffs, you will inevitably encounter key moments many times, and with Paul and Booker, two excellent mid-range masters, the Suns will have more choices at key moments, even the big scenes in the playoffs, and for the Opponents of the Suns, they will be afraid to play key moments with the Suns, and it can even be said that if they can't completely break the Suns in the first half of the game, Then they may let the victory slip away. From this point of view, the Suns are not only the team with the best record in the league at present, they are undoubtedly a strong contender for the title this season.