The Suns, 140-130 Nuggets, finished their 60th win of the season while locking up the league first.
In last year's playoffs, the Suns and Nuggets met in the second round of the playoffs, and the Nuggets were swept 4-0 to personally send the Suns to the Western Conference Finals.
Now that they meet at the end of the regular season, the Nuggets have once again personally sent the Suns to an unshakable league number one, and conveniently let Booker take a new season high of 49 points.
The sun hit the nuggets is really Lao Tzu beating his son, seeing a fight once, the latter has no power to fight back.
One or two angry teachers
About teacher Gui as the MVP of last season, the biggest favorite of MVP this season, in the offensive end of the shooting, sudden, under the basket footsteps, hook, throw all of them, all of them are not exquisite. Coupled with the unpredictable passing of the ball, the attack of The Teacher of Jo can become a textbook existence in any era.
But the brine points tofu, one thing drops one thing, and the teacher meets Ayton, he is not OK. The facts proven in last year's playoffs have been reconfirmed.
Mr. Yo scored 9 sports goals with 10 shots today, slashed 28 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, which did not look bad, and even extremely efficient.
But he made eight turnovers, half of the team, and the Suns scored 30 points using the Nuggets' turnovers.
The most critical thing is that about the teacher one-on-one dozen Ayton has no advantage at all.
About teacher 28 points: Scored 4 goals in the first quarter and scored 8 points, because the Suns were back-to-back, so Ayton did not give Teacher About a strong defense and confrontation.
When Ayton was shaking his spirits in the middle of the section, Teacher Yo found that he couldn't beat Ayton, basically didn't attack, and after the opening 8 points to the end of the first half, Teacher Yo only scored 1 point.
The third thrift teacher scored another 8 points, but these 8 points were scored after Ayton came off the field against McKee. When Mr. Joe confronted Ayton and McGee, it was a completely two-tier athlete.
Fourth Savings Teacher scored 11 points, but it was all shots, and there was only one offense under the basket because Ayton was back.
Such an attack can not kill the Sun, because the Nuggets' starting lineup is the four pendants hanging on Teacher Yo, and it is necessary to ask The Teacher to be able to penetrate the center to change the opponent's defense, and these starters can shine around Teacher Yo.
But Mr. Jo can't beat Ayton, and the root of the Nuggets offense is broken. The Nuggets may be able to rely on the play of role players and the sun to stalemate, but the rootless water can't hold out for an entire game.
Teacher Yo's attack met Ayton like an angry little daughter-in-law, if Ayton can get the maximum salary, the military merit badge is at least half of The Teacher.
Teacher Yo is not only angry in attack, but also bullied in defense.
The source of the Suns' attack is the blocking of the outside line and the center, this kind of attack is the most bullying of the opponent's big center, you say how do you defend it?
You don't come out and people shoot you — the Suns have one more hand-to-hand penalty than other teams on the outside line, you come out and the basket is empty, you recover people on the weak side to find three-point opportunities, you pinch people and you can shoot the ball.
The best way is to change the defense, but the teacher is obviously not the type that can be changed, so the sun's block is about the teacher a dozen and a quasi.
At the end of the fourth quarter of the game, Paul and Booker went to the mid-range to play the teacher, the Nuggets' weak side recovery passed the weak side three-pointer, if not recycled to shoot, the teacher can only stare dryly in the position of not up and down.
It's not just Booker and Paul, Payne has a hand-to-hand throw that can bully Teacher Joe.
Booker, Paul and Payne combined to score 75 points, accounting for more than half of the team's total scores; what is even more terrifying is that the three men have 28 assists, accounting for 87.5% of the team!
Teacher Yo faced this attack of the sun, it was too uncomfortable. If the MVP this season is not about the teacher, the player who gets the MVP will at least send a pennant to the Suns.
Second, 49 points Booker
Of the Sun's outside trio, the brightest is undoubtedly Booker.
Today Booker shot 16-of-25, with 49 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. In addition to the season-high 49 points, Booker also produced quite a few by-products.
This season's Booker has truly stepped onto the stage of superstardom.
First, there are no shortcomings in the offense.
As we all know, Booker is a very well-rounded athlete. Sudden passes can shoot anything, both far and near, but last year's Booker three-pointers were actually not good, averaging 5.5 shots per game, shooting only 34%, especially the arc top and the left 45 degrees of three points are very poor.
This year's Booker has a double harvest in terms of production and efficiency, averaging 7.1 three-point shots per game and shooting 37.5%. His shooting heat map this year is like an artistic painting, without any flaws.
Even the middle distance on which he became famous has a feeling of going further this year. Especially those shots that twist the body or stand up to the defenders are getting closer and closer to Kobe.
Second, individual offense and organization drive teammates to switch more smoothly.
Booker has averaged 4.9 assists per game this season, which is higher than the career average of 4.7, but it is still a lot worse than the 6.5 and 6.8 times two or three years ago.
But after Paul's injury, his assists rose significantly, averaging 7.25 assists per game.
So now Booker, when Paul is there, he is mainly responsible for scoring; Paul is gone, he can also organize and lead his teammates, and today Paul is back, he still has 10 assists.
Nearly half of the 10 assists were delivered in the final quarter, as he kept reading about the teacher's defensive position after launching the block.
For when to score, when to pass, Booker's conversion is becoming more and more comfortable.
This brings us to the third point, Booker's maturity.
In addition to his own technology, a superstar must also be mature in his mentality, and he must always judge and control the situation and make the most favorable choice for himself and the team.
Today is the 5th anniversary of Booker cutting 70 points, saying that it was cut, but those who have watched the game should be clear that Booker has more or less brushing ingredients.
So put today's Booker 5 years ago, will he still brush 70 points?
It can't be said that it must not, after all, 70 points represent the temptation of famous history, but the probability of brushing is definitely much smaller than the original.
In fact, Booker played 43 points after the third quarter today, did he shoot a few more times to brush less than a 50 points?
Definitely not, but he only scored 49 points in the end, and the last 2 points were sent to him by the Nuggets foul.
It's just that he thinks that passing the ball to an empty teammate can win better, and since he can win, is 50 points really that important?
This shows the maturity of Booker's mentality, not to mention 5 years ago, two years ago Booker encountered this situation must take a 50 points.
If we define MVP as the best player on the best team in the league, I may have been torn between Paul and Booker before, and now there is no doubt that Booker is.
Today may be a clear enough dividing line, and I'm sure Paul would love to see that day come. He did not join forces with Kobe Bryant became an eternal regret, then Booker is the best complement to this regret.
The Suns are 60-14 and no. 1 in the league; the Nuggets are 43-31 and sixth in the West.
Thanks for reading it all!