On March 28, Beijing time, the NBA regular season ushered in a major event, and the Suns, who ranked first in the league, sat at home to meet the 76ers who had just risen to the first place in the East. This matchup, which may be a preview of the finals, is highly anticipated, and the game is also a suspenseful game, and finally the four quarters are over, and the Suns 114-104 double killed 76ers, winning 8 consecutive wins.
At the beginning of the game, the two teams entered the confrontation mode, Embiid and Booker, the two popular candidates for MVP this season, you and I came and went, the state was extremely hot, and they won the first three attacks of the team. Booker slashed 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the first quarter, but with two fists between four hands, Embiid and Harris twinkled, and the 76ers scored 39 points in the first quarter to end the first quarter with a slim 2-point lead.
In the second quarter of the lineup rotation stage, the 76ers' offensive firepower was undiminished, and a small 10-0 climax stretched the point difference to double digits. Paul stepped up at the crucial moment, the mid-shot broke the 4-minute scoring drought, and then the Suns' attack was like opening the floodgates, a wave of 13-0 attacks, narrowing the point difference to 4 points, ending the first half.
Easy side to fight again, the two teams fell into a tug-of-war, the score is always tight! What worries the 76ers is that Harden's form has been sluggish, lost again in such a high-profile focus showdown.
The Suns are a team that is very good at playing key moments, and this season when the Suns lead into the final quarter, the record is 44 wins and 0 losses, and today is no exception. In the final quarter, the sun showed its fangs under Paul's tandem, Paul sent assists in a row, and Shamet hit three consecutive points to widen the point difference to double digits. After Paul went off, the 76ers launched a crazy counterattack, at one point chasing the point difference to 1 point, but when Paul returned, the Suns directly responded with a wave of 13-2 to take away the game.
In the whole game, Harden had 14 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds on only 2 of 11 shooting, and Embiid scored 37 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The Suns scored in double figures with Paul scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds and 14 assists on 9-of-15 shooting, and Booker had 35 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists on 13-of-22 shooting!
For the Suns, who locked up the league's first record early, they are now distracted, do not have to think about how to choose opponents, they are now the best team in the league, the goal is the championship, that is, to end the regular season strongly.
The situation of the 76ers is completely different, the pattern of the East this year is too chaotic, the 76ers, Celtics, Bucks, Heat do not have a fuel-saving lamp, each team is not easy to play, are expected to rush out of the East this year, these 4 teams in the first half of the record difference of less than 1 win, every day the ranking is changing. Although the 76ers were ranked first in the East before this game, they fell directly to fourth in the East after losing to the Suns today!
In addition, after Irving was released from the ban and allowed to play in the home game, the Nets have once again become a team with the potential to compete for the championship, which makes the already foggy Eastern Conference war situation even more uncertain! The first place in the East has now become a hot potato, and no team is willing to take over.
So, the 76ers look like they lost today in the East-West top battle, but in the long run, they could also be the winners of this game. Because falling to fourth in the East means they can't meet the Nets in the first round, against the fifth soft persimmon bulls, is undoubtedly the best choice, it is difficult to say that they do not have a little acting ingredient.