Paul rushed to the championship again
Chris Paul, 36, once again made an assault on the championship, and this season, the Phoenix Suns have become more mature, the record has reached the first place in the league, and it is the best 64 wins in the history of the team, it can be said that no team in the regular season can block the sun's bright light. It's the playoffs, though, a completely different stage. There are plenty of teams in the West that can pose a threat to the Suns, but it's clear that the Suns' first-round playoff opponent, the Pelicans, are not in that rank.
There's no disrespect for the Pelicans, and it's a bit of luck that they're able to get to the playoffs. It just happened to meet a Spurs who wanted to mess up, and it happened that Paul George couldn't play because of a health and safety agreement, so they won a playoff spot. They're brilliant and hard working, but not at the same level as the sun.
There was no suspense in the game
At the beginning of the first quarter, the Suns showed a suffocating level of defense, and don't forget, they are the third most efficient team in the league in the regular season. Facing the Suns' defense, Ingram only had 5 points and 1 rebound on 2-of-7 shooting, McCollum had 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 1-of-7 shooting, the best performer on the team was Valanciunas, 4 points and 7 rebounds on 2-of-6 shooting, and the Pelicans only scored 16 points in the first quarter, which was unbearable, as for the Phoenix Suns, their offensive efficiency also ranked fifth in the league.
Paul didn't make a single shot, with 3 points, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, Booker had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Ayton shot 3 of 3, also had 6 points and 4 rebounds, and the team easily scored 28 points and took a 12-point lead. After returning from the second quarter, the Pelicans played 7 minutes and scored just five points, which was, to be honest, it was a bit disappointing. Fortunately, the Suns only scored 14 points, of which Paul scored 5 points, and the difference between the two teams was 21 points.
After Paul went off the field, Varan scored from the basket to stabilize the situation, Androm hit the key three-pointer, then caused two fouls to make it to a wave of 7-0 to narrow the point difference to 14 points. Paul returned to the field, Bridges made two free throws, Johnson scored a layup, Bridges scored quickly, and the Suns once again stretched the gap to 20 points. Varan hit two free throws, Ayton hit a three-pointer, Alvarado hit a three-pointer, McCollum hit two free throws and Paul hit a layup. At the end of the half, the Suns led the Pelicans by 19 points at 53-34.
Paul wasn't ready yet
Although everyone knew that the Pelicans and Suns were not a team of the same level, they still did not expect that the score difference between the two teams in the first half would be so great. It's not how well the Suns performed, they only scored 53 points at halftime, just because the Pelicans' offense was so bad that they only scored 34 points. Ingram had 12 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, but only 4-of-11 shooting, Varan had 8 points and 15 rebounds on 3-of-12 shooting, and McCollum had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists on 2-of-11 shooting.
The Suns didn't play the offensive performance they should have, Booker had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, shooting only 5 of 12 from the field, Ayton shot 6 of 9 was 13 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks, Paul had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists on 3 of 5 shots, and 2 steals and 1 block. Cameron Johnson on the bench had 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, and Bridges had 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.