On April 18, Beijing time, with the outbreak of Chris Paul in the fourth quarter, the Suns defeated the Pelicans 110-99 in their playoff debut this season, making a series start. Paul, who had 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in this game, won the 10th playoff 30+10+ assists in his NBA career, setting another milestone in NBA history and ranking fifth in NBA history.
In the minds of many people, Paul's strength, which is about to celebrate his 37th birthday, is the offensive organization. After all, he has averaged only 22.8 points per regular season in a single season in his 17-year NBA career so far, and this season he has dropped his regular season average of less than 15.0 points for the first time in his career; however, in this game, at the critical moment when the team desperately needs to score, Paul once again stood up, he hit 7 of 8 shots in the fourth quarter, including 3 of 4 three-pointers, 2 free throws, and cut 19 points in a single quarter without any mistakes!
Throughout the game, Paul hit 12 of 16 shots in 35 minutes of playing time, shooting 75.0%, including 4 of 6 shots from outside the three-point line, with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, and the plus-minus value of +20 was far ahead of all the players in the field, once again proving his key ball ability.
This is the 10th playoff game of Paul's NBA career to score 30+ points and 10+ assists! On this data ranking, Russell Westbrook officially surpassed, occupying the fifth position in NBA history, and there is only a gap of only 2 games between Oscar Robertson, who ranks fourth in NBA history.
Many people may not have any idea of Paul's stats, but what I want to tell you now is that James Harden has only scored 30+ points and 10+ assists in 6 playoff games, steve Nash, who was once the regular season MVP, has only played such data in 6 playoff games in his entire NBA career, and even the magic wizard Johnson who won the Finals MVP in his rookie season has only had such a performance in 7 playoff games in his entire NAB career!
Although Paul once again missed the top three in the regular season MVP selection, which is a bit unfair to Paul, who led the Suns to break the best single-season regular season record in team history and locked in the league's top spot early, Paul should have been used to being looked down upon, and this season is likely to be the best chance of his NBA career, I hope he can seize it!