Sun 114-104 Philadelphia!
The First of the West hits the First place of the East, the Emperor against Ayton, Harden meets Paul, and recently the Super God Booker, everything is very good.
The first half was brilliant, with Booker scoring 22 points in the first quarter, Philadelphia stretching the gap to 15 points at one point, and Harden and the Emperor combined to cut 31 points.
But in the second half Rivers was overturned, Harden only got 2 points and almost disappeared from the court, Paul complained about the god of the game, the emperor tried his best.
I can only describe it all in two words, right taste, too right taste!
I felt like it was back, all back.
First, the Suns had a tough first half
In the first quarter, the Suns scored 37 points, Booker 8 of 11, 3 of 3 outside the line, and single-handedly scored 22 points.
Although Booker is the god of the first verse, if he could, Booker would not actually fight like this. Because the Suns are an extremely team-oriented team, they prefer to blossom more than Bukmu Xiuyulin.
But the teammates in the first quarter were really not very good, Paul was mainly responsible for driving his teammates, but Bridges and Crowder couldn't shoot three points on the outside, and Ayton was very effective against the Emperor under the basket.
Meanwhile the Suns had 8 fouls in the first quarter, with Claude, Ayton and Billyombo making two fouls each, and Booker and Craig making one foul. Booker couldn't do it, he couldn't be broken in the first quarter, so he had to come by himself.
But the question is, Booker always has to rest when he plays the first quarter, what does Booker do when he rests?
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Suns placed a Paul + Payne + Shamet three-guard lineup, with only one Craig on the front line, and the inside line was also much shorter than Yongbo against Jordan Jr.
So Philadelphia let Harris hold the ball and the front line to block, and after Craig was replaced, the defender in front of Harris became Payne or Shamet.
Harris 2m, Payne 1m 85, Shamet 1m 93, the two do not have Paul's strength and defensive skills, so can only watch Harris dry pull. That's the impact of Cameron Johnson's absence, and if Cayo is there, the Suns won't be at three backs.
Harris scored 8 points on 4-of-5 and fed Jordan Jr. two cakes. It was also at this stage that Philadelphia extended its lead to 15 points.
Unexpectedly, Philadelphia's lead was not played by Embiid and Harden, but by Harris with the bench.
At this point, the situation is already very unfavorable for the sun, and it is urgent to have someone to stand up and help the sun score.
2. The god of point guards
Isn't the Sun besides Booker and Paul? What was Paul doing?
Paul wasn't unaware of the situation, but he didn't feel it was time for him to attack, and in the first three minutes of the second quarter he was passing the ball to Shamet and Craig to try to get them to shoot three points first.
When Crowder and Bridges returned, he gave Shamet and Crowder an open three-point pass each, but his teammates still couldn't shoot.
By the time it was 7 minutes and 50 seconds and the score was 51-37, Paul started.
Paul and Ayton blocked and went to the free throw line to watch Jordan Jr. pull into a mid-range, which was the Suns' first scoring since four minutes of the second quarter;
At 6:53, Paul Ayton blocked, Harden chose to go down the line to bypass, Paul watched the emperor in the box shoot a three-pointer.
The first 5 minutes of the second stanza of the Sun all came from Paul.
But most importantly, those 5 points all came from Paul's center in Philadelphia after blocking the demolition, just like the previous two days of playing the teacher.
At this point you know why Paul can't score in the first 4 minutes of the game and is not in a hurry, because he can play the opposing center at any time. It's like a cake on a plate that he can pick up and eat as long as he wants.
It's complete control of the situation!
In fact, Booker did not score in the second quarter, because he only came up and played 4 minutes to get his third offense, and it was Paul who played almost the whole quarter and filled the 15-point pit with his teammates.
Paul's role was even more interesting in the fourth quarter, with 6 minutes and 40 seconds, the Suns holding an 11-point lead, Coach Monti replaced Paul with Payne, and the remaining starting 4-man group all came back.
But less than 2 minutes after Paul went down, the Suns were hit by Philadelphia in a wave of 8-0, two of which were thrown by Philadelphia for counter-attacking three-pointers because the offense was not well organized.
Then Coach Monty immediately replaced Paul back, and Paul came back with a mid-range jumper after blocking.
But then immediately with Ayton blocking the outside line to attract Harden and the emperor's pinch, passed to Dunbao to score a throw;
In the third minute, Paul blocked Ayton again and pulled into the middle distance in the face of Harden's pursuit.
As soon as he got off the pitch, the team was chased; as soon as he came on the pitch, the team immediately knew what to play, and then the situation was stabilized.
9-of-15, 19 points, 14 assists and 1 turnover, plus-minus of the game-high +25, such a person can not be regarded as a point guard god?
Three, the vanishing Harden
In the first half, the Philadelphia 64-60 Suns, Harden scored 12 points; in the second half, the Suns hit Philadelphia 54-40, Harden 2 points.
In the scorching second half, Harden disappeared again.
But this seems to be the Harden we are familiar with, after all, Dengo has never disappointed in terms of disappointment.
Come on, let's start with why Philadelphia sent Simmons back to Harden.
Because Simmons can't shoot, Philadelphia has no space, and he and the Emperor can't play, so Philadelphia's key ball can only be played by Embiid.
But Embiid is very skilled, he is also a big man of 213 centimeters, the center of gravity is too high, he can easily hold the ball, and he also has to guard against the pinch that may come at any moment.
Not only Embiid, but all the big players are not suitable for the final stages to launch the attack, so they need players from the outside to initiate, as their own endpoint or diversion point.
So Simmons was gone, Harden was gone.
But Harden only shot 2 three-pointers in the entire second half, and in the end, even if Lao Li replaced Sable with Green, the Suns still contracted and pinched the emperor recklessly.
If Harden can't play a role at this time, then what is the essential difference between him and Simmons?
Simmons is also younger, better defensive and pushes transitions faster.
If you compare the old cannon of the sun, you really can't help but raise infinite sighs...
The Suns are 61-14, first in the West, and Philadelphia are fourth in the East with 46 wins and 28 losses.
Thanks for reading it all!