The NBA ushered in a peak showdown today, the Eastern Conference leader Heat and the Western Leader Suns began to compete, the two teams including Butler, Paul and other core players were absent, after the comeback of Booker, who triggered the health and safety agreement, added winning chips to the Suns.
In the first quarter, the Heat of the home game took the lead, the first 6 minutes of the wild 25 points early to take a double-digit lead, but the second half is like a change of team, only 2 points collapsed, the Suns will return to a wave of 15-2 offensive staged a big reversal. In the second quarter, the Heat maintained a slight lead with a steady attack and defense, but in the final stage, the Suns rebounded by 2 points to enter the second half.
After another fight, the Heat still couldn't find a solution to the offense, the Suns played a 12-3 offensive attack to take over the game, and then the Heat had no resistance, and the Suns extended their advantage to more than 20 points to lay the victory. In the end, the Suns 111-90 lightly won the Battle of the East and West leaders.
After putting out the Heat, the Suns' record reached 53 wins and 13 losses, becoming the first team in the league to lock up the playoffs early. Moreover, the Suns have won at least once against each of the league's 29 teams this season, for the first time in team history since the 06-07 season, when the Suns won 61-21 and ranked second in the West.
In Paul's absence, Monty found the way to victory. Booker scored 23 points on 7 of 12 with 8 boards and 9 assists, plus or minus as high as +31, Bridges contributed 21 points, 9 boards and 3 assists 0 errors on 9 of 13, and McGee scored a double-double of 11 points and 15 boards in only 16 minutes. Teammates play so well that Paul can rest easy to recover from his injuries.