Beijing time on April 6, the NBA regular season continued, the Suns defeated the Lakers 121-110 at home, the first quarter of this battle the Suns are still behind, two or three two quarters respectively played 35-27, 35-22, after the point difference opened, the Lakers did not catch up, the Sun thus won another victory.
For the Lakers, this loss directly made them miss the play-off, but for the Suns, winning is very wonderful, because after this game, the Suns' record reached 63 wins and 16 losses, refreshing the best record in team history, and there are still 3 games left in the regular season, and they still have the opportunity to continue to improve.
The sun over the past four seasons, the progress has been really incredible:
—— In the 2018-19 season, 19 wins and 63 losses, the west is the first to last
- In the 2019-20 season, 34 wins and 39 losses, the tenth place in the West
- In the 2020-21 season, 51 wins and 21 losses, the second place in the West
—— In the 2021-22 season, 63 wins and 16 losses, the first place in the West
Until now, three years ago, the Suns were a fish-belly team with little hope, they lost 63 games in a season, but from the beginning of the eight-game winning streak in the park, the Suns suddenly rose, and before the season was finished, they had already won 63 and locked in the league first in advance, which is a rare span.
There are many reasons for the rise of the Sun, including the growth of Booker, Ayton, Bridges and others, the arrival of head coach Monty Williams, and most importantly, the arrival of Paul.
In this game against the Lakers, Paul only played 24 minutes and scored 6 points, but he also delivered 12 assists and only 1 turnover, and the plus-minus was still the second highest +22 on the team.
Paul suffered a finger injury in front of the All-Star, for which he missed 15 games, but in the six games since his comeback, Paul has delivered a total of 67 assists and only 12 turnovers, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.58 - as he has always done, Paul is the king of assist-to-turnover ratios.
So far this season, Paul has played in 64 games for the Suns, averaging 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 1.9 steals and only 2.3 turnovers per game. Paul is currently at number one in the assists list, and if nothing else, he will be elected as the assist king for the fifth time in his career, and paul is also in second place in the steals list, having previously won six steals.
The so-called family has an old, if there is a treasure, the Suns can achieve the first record in the league this season, Paul is still indispensable:
- When Paul was on the floor, the Suns scored 115.4 points per 100 rounds, outperforming their opponents by 9.8 points
- Paul was not present, and the Suns scored 111.1 points per 100 rounds, outperforming their opponents by 5.8 points
For comparison, the MVP candidate Booker's two numbers are 9.5 points and 5.5 points respectively - if you remember, before the injury, Paul rushed to the fourth place in the MVP list, and he and Booker were both MVP of the Suns.
Together with the Suns, Paul has helped four teams achieve the best results in team history:
- In the 2007-08 season, the Hornets, 56 wins and 26 losses, the best in team history
- 2013-14, Clippers, 57 wins and 25 losses, the best in team history
- 2017-18 season, Rockets, 65 wins and 17 losses, the best in team history
—— 2021-22 season, Suns, 63 wins and 16 losses, the best in team history
Chris Paul stayed in 5 teams in his career, 4 teams brought out the best record in history, the only one that did not have was the Thunder that only stayed for one year and planned to mess up, but Paul forced the Thunder into the playoffs at that time, and his ability to lead the team must not have to be doubted anymore.
In fact, when you look back at Paul's career, you will find that he has really done everything he can, and if you want to say regrets, it is probably two, one is no MVP, and the other is no championship.
MVP, Paul was ranked second in 2008, when he was 23 years old, now 36 years old, the data level is too much worse than the junior, and there is a teammate like Booker, so it is basically impossible to get it.
But the championship, Paul still has hope, last year he helped the Suns lead the Bucks 2-0 in the Finals, which is probably the closest Paul is to the championship, but unfortunately was won by the Bucks 4 consecutive games to turn over, this year, the Suns regular season almost from the beginning to the end, their record is thriving, the playoffs, hope to be the same.