Pelican Black Eight Suns? Is this a possible thing? Obviously, the Pelicans are choking enough to enter the playoffs, not to mention the victory over the history-making Suns in the West!
The Suns won 110-99 in the first match, and the score of the series came to 1-0. Throughout the race, the Suns built a 24-point advantage in the first two quarters. But with the Pelicans feeling fully open in the third quarter, the Pelicans briefly narrowed the gap to 5 points in the final quarter, but with Paul's 19 points in a single quarter, the Sun reversed the decline.
Paul played 35 minutes, shooting 12-of-16 and 4-of-6 from three-point range, with 30 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Apparently, this is one of the most classic series of Paul's career. Paul, like Kenji Fujima, is the coach on the pitch and controls the whole field. In the time of the team crisis, he stood up to help the team solve the problem; when the team entered a good situation, Paul watched the changes!
Is it really a good thing to play so well? Apparently, no!
Looking at the playoffs this year, Paul had a finger injury in the Finals. As a result, Paul's form in the Finals was much lower than in the first three rounds of the series. The reason for Paul's injury was paul's frequent possession of the ball, and the overuse at the end of last season's regular season led to Paul having a finger injury. Moreover, in the series with the Lakers, Paul also has other injuries, such as hamstring injuries, such as shoulder injuries, which is related to Paul's super high round usage!
Flipping forward, when Paul was in the Rockets, the light bulb combination at that time was able to power just five hamptons. However, in the 17th Western Conference Finals, when Paul led the team to take King Mountain, Paul suffered a hamstring injury, which also directly led to the Rockets being reversed by the Warriors. In fact, as long as the Rockets reach the Finals this year, it is the Rockets who win the championship!
Turning further ahead, Paul met the defending champion Spurs in the first round of 2015, and Paul snatched seven to kill the Spurs. But in the following game, Paul suffered an injury and the Rockets' starting point help reversed. The average playing time in the first round was close to 40 minutes, and more than 40 minutes in three games, which also caused Paul's series status with the Rockets to decline significantly.
That year, the Warriors won the championship. In fact, the biggest favorite to win the championship itself is the Clippers!
Behind the 30+7+10 stats is Booker's lack of leadership and the team's limited scoring in rotation. If Paul hadn't stepped up at the time, it's likely that the Sun reversed the tide under CJ.'s leadership. You know, after Paul went off the field to rest, the sun at one point could not score points for 3 minutes.
Obviously, in terms of role, Payne at the sixth-man level on the bench is still not comparable to Paul, let alone Holliday and Payton. Their role is only to help Paul share the playing time, and during Paul's rest time, the score is not close!
But when they play, Payne and Holliday can score two points when Paul is resting, and the Suns won't pick paul up so early. Obviously, in terms of level, Payne and Paul are still a few notches apart! At the critical moment, there is no hope for Payne, but when the team is in a good situation, Payne can contribute points sporadically to score!
Not only that, when Paul was resting, the team's boss Booker did not score a point, and the old Huang Zhong was not allowed. This also shows that in fact, the boss of the Suns is still Paul, Paul's key moments, Paul's organization, Paul's defense, are the pillars of this team!
Excessive consumption, in fact, there are hidden dangers of injuries, just like in previous seasons, playing the state early, in fact, it is not good for the sun!
The sun needs a healthy Paul so that the sun can go further. If Paul is out of form too early, the other players don't play. It's going to be tough in the following series because their opponents are much stronger than the eighth-place Pelicans in the West! Both the Grizzlies and the Warriors have the strength to wrench their wrists with the Sun. Once Paul was injured, the sun was in a sadistic position with little chance.
Guarantee a healthy Paul, ensure the status of the other players, then the Suns have a hope of winning the championship. And Paul's early appearance is hurting the team, in fact, the team is getting farther and farther away from the championship!