In the absence of both Paul and Booker, the Suns narrowly beat the Magic 102-99 on the road today, averting a losing streak.
In today's game, the Suns had five players in double figures, and Ayton dominated the inside line, playing 36 minutes, shooting 10-of-19 from the field, 1-of-1 from the free throw line, and cutting a large double-double with 21 points and 19 rebounds, plus-minus as high as +14.
Shamet played 39 minutes and shot 6-of-12 from the field, 6-of-10 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free throw line for 21 points, three rebounds and two assists. In the final quarter of the game, Shamet scored a key three points in a row and contributed 9 points in a single quarter to help the team win.
Payne also performed well today, playing 34 minutes, shooting 6-of-16, 3-of-5 from three-point range, 3-of-4 from the free throw line, and having 18 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
In the absence of two All-Star core guards, the Suns are facing a lot of challenges, but after Payne and Shamet entered the starting lineup, they both played a good performance, so after the All-Star, the Suns still achieved a record of 4 wins and 3 losses, ranking first in the West.
In the last four games, Payne's personal performance has been very good, with a total of 44 assists, averaging a double-double of 16 points and 11 assists per game, and has averaged 19.3 points and 12.0 assists in the past three games. If you only look at the data, I am afraid that many people will think that this is Paul's type.
Indeed, this is typical Paulian stats, but it is not played by Paul, but by Payne, who replaces Paul, which proves that Payne's performance is very good. After Payne replaced Paul, it was as if he had become Paul. Of course, there is still a gap between Payne and Paul, especially at key moments, but he can play the same data as Paul, which is good enough.
Prior to that, Payne had delivered a maximum of 28 assists in four consecutive games in his career, and he had delivered 44 assists in the past four games, a total of 16 more, which greatly improved that record.
As Paul's substitute, when Paul is not there, Payne can often stand up and play a very powerful performance, trying to make up for the negative impact of Paul's absence. Last season's playoff Western Conference Finals for the second time, Paul was absent due to injury, Payne started in place of Paul, played the best performance of his playoff career, scored 29 points and 9 assists, and helped the Suns Beat the Clippers.