On April 20, Beijing time, the Suns continued to face the Pelicans at home, and finally the Pelicans successfully defeated the Suns 125-114, rewriting the big score to a 1-1 draw.
Although the Suns lost the game, but this is not the worst thing, what is worse is that the Suns star Devin Booker suffered an injury in this game, and then the Suns officially announced that Booker will not return to this game because of hamstring tension, according to the US media health expert Dr. Nirav Pandya, M.D., said they conducted a study of hamstring injuries in NBA players from 2016 to 2021, and the average number of games missed by hamstring-plagued players was 6.3 games, and after the return, playing time and shooting percentage dropped, that is, Booker's chances of returning in the first round were almost zero, and even if he returned to the field, his form would be affected by injuries.
After Booker was injured, many media said that the sun may encounter black eight, but if the solar energy does these two things well, it is not easy for the Pelicans to eliminate the sun in the first round.
1. Enhance your defense
For the Pelicans, they have three important scoring points, namely Ingram, CJ McCollum and Valanciunas on the inside, the Pelicans were able to successfully beat the Suns today, and the three of them scored a total of 70 points, which was the main factor in winning, especially Ingram, who scored 37 points in this game, so the Suns must add defense on the outside to limit the offense of Ingram and CJ McCollum.
Again is the problem of the interior line, which is really too bad for the Suns, Varan in two games, a total of 38 rebounds, in the first game, grabbed 25 rebounds, it can be seen how poor the Suns' interior defense, especially Ayton, must limit Varan on the inside, otherwise, it is difficult for the Suns to see the hope of winning.
2. Monty's use of soldiers and Paul's play
At the end of the third quarter of the game, Coach Monti was too confident, and when the game was behind, he replaced all the main players of the team and let a group of substitutes fight the main players against the Pelicans on the court, if in the next game, Coach Monti was still so confident, the Suns lost, that was the inevitable factor.
Finally, Paul's play, in this game, Paul is not in very good shape, the whole game 16 shots 5, scored 17 points, although he scored 14 assists, but in this game, Paul in the face of the team to lose points, there is not much offensive desire, and the state is not very good, throwing a lot of middle distance, which is really not for Paul.
If, in the next round, it is determined that Booker cannot appear in the game, then Paul must increase his own attack while organizing the team's attack.
If Paul can have a good offensive output, coupled with the Suns' defense, even without Booker, it will not be easy for the Pelicans to eliminate the Suns in the first round.