Beijing time on February 2, the NBA regular season continued, the east and west strong dialogue, the Suns home 121-111 victory over the Nets, the first quarter of this battle the Suns led 39-29, and then almost always occupied the initiative, the fourth quarter remained 5 minutes ago, the Nets once chased the point difference to 102-107, but then 2 minutes, the Nets did not get a point, the Suns played a wave of 9-0, the victory and defeat completely lost suspense.
After this game, the Suns have won 11 consecutive games with a record of 40 wins and 9 losses, continuing to sit in the league first place, while the Nets have suffered five consecutive losses, and currently have a record of 29-21, ranking sixth in the East, and only 3.0 wins ahead of the Ninth Celtics in the East (27 wins and 25 losses).
Statistically, Durant has not yet returned, Irving is 10 of 20, with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Harden has 22 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists, but the total shooting is 6 of 19, and there are 4 mistakes.
For the Suns, Booker scored a game-high 35 points on 13-of-23 shooting, Paul had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 14 assists, Bridges had 27 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, Ayton had 12 points and 6 rebounds, and Cameron Johnson had 16 points and 3 rebounds.
In this game, the Suns duo played steadily.
Booker showed excellent hand in the first quarter, 6 of 7 in a single quarter, scoring 14 points; in the third quarter, it was Booker again, and at the end of the third quarter, Booker had scored 30 points; in the crucial fourth quarter, Booker only scored 5 points, but these 5 points were very critical, directly helping the Suns extend their original lead from 5 points to 10 points.
So far this season, Booker has averaged 25.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, shooting 44.5 percent from the field, 38.0 percent from three-point range and 86.0 percent from the free throws.
During his 11-game winning streak, Booker scored 30+ in six games, averaging 30.5 points per game, the third in the league in the same period. There is no doubt that Booker remains one of the league's best scorers.
Let's talk about Paul.
In this game, Paul shot a total of 5 of 12, 9 of 9 from the free throw line, had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 14 assists, of which in the first quarter alone, he delivered 7 assists, and in the crucial fourth quarter, the wave of the Suns winning 9-0, Paul contributed 2 assists, 4 points and 4 assists in the single quarter.
It is worth mentioning that Paul once again showed superb ability to control mistakes in this game, he only sent 2 mistakes in the whole game, in the past three games, Paul sent 47 assists, and only 6 mistakes, the assist-to-error ratio is close to 8-1, which is outrageous:
— Against the Timberwolves, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 turnovers
Against the Spurs, 20 points, 8 rebounds, 19 assists, 2 turnovers
— Against the Nets, 20 points, 4 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 turnovers
During the 11-game winning streak, Paul scored a total of 5 "20+10" double-doubles, averaging 18.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 11.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game, ranking first in the league in the same period, and only 2.4 turnovers, shooting 54.0%/39.5%/85.0% of the three shots, and shooting a true shooting rate of 63.5%.
Throughout the season, Paul currently averages 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game, with 2.3 turnovers, first assists in the league, turnovers that can't even reach the top 50 in the league, and his assist-to-turnover ratio is as high as 4.49, which is a comparison between the other four assists and turnovers in the top five of the assists list:
— Harden, 10.1 assists, 4.8 turnovers, 2.11 assists-to-turnover ratio
— Trae Young, 9.3 assists, 4.2 turnovers, 2.20 assists to turnovers
— Deson Tai Murray, 9.1 assists, 2.5 turnovers, 3.59 assists to turnover
— Luka Doncic, 8.9 assists, 4.4 turnovers, 2.00 assists to turnovers
The league's first record, coupled with such a stable and excellent organization and control ability, Paul naturally entered the MVP discussion range, and currently in the MVP list, Paul's name ranks fourth, only lower than Jokic, Embiid, alphabet brother, and the defender is ranked first.
Due to the increase in age, Paul's current scoring ability has declined to a certain extent, and the data level is naturally not as good as many players, so it is really a bit difficult to compete for MVP, but if the MVP list can become a criterion, then Paul is now the first person on the point guard and even the guard - Curry is ranked sixth in the latest list, if there is no downturn in the past two months, it should be higher.
Of course, the topic of who is the first point guard is no longer important to Paul now, but we still have to sigh, at the age of 22, Paul is considered the first point guard in the league, and now at the age of 36, he is still in this discussion range, such a long peak, really only one ring away.