On April 18, Beijing time, the Suns defeated the Pelicans 110-99 in the NBA Western Playoffs to achieve a good start. The Suns led by 23 points in the first half. However, the Pelicans played 37-26 in the third quarter, and the final quarter was even closer to just 6 points. But at the crucial moment, Paul personally scored 17 consecutive points to help the Sun stabilize the situation and completely extinguish the Pelicans' counterattack. Arguably, this was entirely a victory for St. Paul.
As the top seed in the West and the No. 8 seed, there is a big gap in the strength of the two sides. In the first quarter, the Suns played 28-16 in a single quarter. In the second quarter, the Pelicans were still completely overwhelmed by the Sun, scoring only 34 points at halftime, 19 points behind the Sun. However, in the third quarter, the sun's defense suddenly became loose, and the Pelicans hit a single quarter with 37 points, forcing the point difference to only 8 points.
At the beginning of the final quarter, the Pelicans continued to score, and the point difference was as high as 6 points. At the crucial moment, Paul stepped forward. He scored first on a free throw and then hit a three-pointer. Then Paul assisted McGee on a hit, after which Paul himself hit two more three-pointers to stop the Pelicans. After the Pelicans' timeout, Paul still did not stop scoring, breaking through two times to score easily, and personally scored 17 points in a row! The Pelicans have collapsed by this time, is this a 37-year-old veteran? The Suns fans, on the other hand, celebrated wildly, and the whole audience fell into a boil.
With Paul's crazy solo show, the Suns finally beat the Pelicans and made the opening. In the whole game, Paul blasted down 30 points, 10 assists and 7 boards, shooting 11 of 14 from the field, and the plus-minus value was also the first in the team. With such an impeccable performance, Paul is announcing to everyone that the NBA's number one championship hit has arrived!
For the Suns, their biggest magic weapon this season is undoubtedly Paul. While Booker is already the team's offensive arrow, he has also been the number one core in many games. But in the key moments of the playoffs, Paul is still the sun's anchor. Of course, given Paul's near-crazy injury history in the playoffs, the Suns need to take care of Paul carefully. Otherwise, once Paul falls, the sun will never have a chance to rush to the top.