In view of the phoenix suns and new orleans pelicans first game, the home sun Chris Paul inexplicably played almost bloodless to win the opening red, which also made everyone sure that the sun with a record of the regular season will be easy to qualify, after all, the Pelicans do have a big gap from the perspective of book strength. However, the beauty of the playoffs is that until the last minute, you never know what's going to happen. Brandon Ingram was nearly invincible, shooting 13-of-21 from the field, scoring 37 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, just one assist away from his first career triple-double. In particular, in the final five minutes of the decider period, Ingram and CJ McCollum teamed up to shoot 5 of 7, shooting 15 points, and used a perfect performance to pull back a city for the Pelicans who played away, and retreated with a 1-1 score and returned to New Orleans.
Pelicans coach Willie Green is not surprised by the supernatural play of the beloved, as if everything is under his control. In the interview, Willie Green said that he did both of these things, completely activating Ingram, and in the pre-match interview he told reporters: "Ingram will play against the Suns' main attacker in some rounds, and I think one of the great things about him is that he is willing to accept such a challenge, and at the end of the game, Ingram wants to defend these players." "And what we have to do is rationalize the alignment and avoid letting Ingram play a normal game to defend Devin Booker, although he will definitely have a time against Booker."
Booker's first-half performance was perfect, scoring 31 points in 17 minutes, which is not unrelated to Willie Green's defensive deployment - although Ingram's long arms can interfere with Booker to some extent, the rotation reserves of the two teams on the offensive end are not in the same order of magnitude, and it is not wise to let their most reliable attackers go and compete with the opponent. Although the sun still looked unstoppable in the first half, the physical savings that Ingram had saved on the defensive end finally played a role in the second half.
Speaking about Ingram's outburst from the third quarter, Willie Green said: "I saw his (Ingram's) efforts, I stopped calling tactics, I let him call tactics himself based on what was going on the pitch. Ingram did not live up to the head coach's wave of "decentralization", and the configuration of four teammates with projection ability in the third quarter made him feel like a fish, and he played the technical characteristics of his "Little Durant" to the fullest.
However, Ingram was unusually humble about his performance, and in an interview with the studio after the game, he said lightly: "We just played aggressively from the beginning, we accelerated the pace and executed the plan. My teammates helped me a lot, they handed me the ball at the right time and in the right place, and when I gave it to them, they were able to finish well. We also did well on the defensive end. Every time I play, my teammates make me a better player. After winning this game, the morale of the Pelicans Youth Army peaked, and then back at home to the Smoothie King Center, I am afraid that the Suns will not be easy to win, as Ingram said: "Back at home, there will be fans to cheer us on, this is the first time I have felt in the playoffs, it will feel wonderful."
Nance Jr. had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in this campaign, and one of the heroes who won the game also officially stated in the post-game interview: "We are very satisfied with their home draw, but we are not satisfied." "As I said before, whether we lose or win, as long as Ingram plays, I think he is the best player."
Ingram has clearly completed his metamorphosis through the play-offs and this series, which is not good news for the Suns. However, they have even bigger bad news in the regular season, the only top attacker who can balance Ingram on the offensive end, Devon Booker, suffered from a hamstring injury, left early in the third quarter and never returned to the field. Booker's importance to the Suns is self-evident, and how difficult the hamstring injury is, just look at Paul in the Rockets and Harden in the Nets, in other words, the Suns have to be prepared for the next few games without Booker, or without healthy Booker.
Suns coach Monti said: If Booker can't play, he needs other players to come forward. Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Payne, Shamet and other players, can they play such a role? What impact will the rampaging Ingram and the unexpectedly injured Booker have on the final trend of this series?