Devin Booker in the first half was a divine helper, with 31 points, two rebounds and one assist on 7-of-10 three-pointers from 18 shooting, and the Home Suns also took a five-point lead 61-56. According to this score, Booker has the hope of impacting 50+, but the sudden injury affected Booker's play, his data was finally fixed at 31 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, the most helpless is that the Suns lost the game and lost home advantage.
It is said that the series starts with winning an away game, so for the Pelicans, their series is officially opened. Brandon Ingram swept away the slump of his playoff debut, scoring 3 points, 3 of 3 from 3-point range, 3 from 3-point range, 8 free throws, 37 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and in the crucial fourth quarter, Ingram had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist on 4-of-6 shooting, as well as five consecutive points to help the Pelicans seal the win.
For the Suns, losing home field advantage is not too terrible, and the most critical thing now is Booker's injury situation, if it can't come back, then the Suns' advantage will no longer exist. Point guard Chris Paul also has a super performance of 14 assists and zero turnovers, but the offensive end of 5 of 16 shooting is not too optimistic. In fact, this is also Paul's shortcoming, he will arrange the team's attack clearly, but when he needs to solve the score, Paul is short, and he is now 37 years old.
In the first two games, the Suns exposed a fatal problem, that is, their height is inferior to the Pelicans, which also directly affects the Suns' protection for defensive rebounds. So, we'll see the Pelicans grab 25 offensive rebounds in the first game, with Jonas Valanciunas alone grabbing 13 offensive rebounds, seven more than the Suns. In game two, the Pelicans grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and lost the first game of madness. Even so, there are still 3 more than the sun.
Defensive rebounding protection is not good, the final focus will still be traced back to DeAndre Ayton, as the Suns' starting center, Ayton averaged 15.5 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the first two games, shooting 66.7%, the data still looks good, but the Pelicans' offensive rebounds again and again still make Ayton slightly embarrassed. Of course, the Suns' protection of defensive rebounds is not Ayton's responsibility alone, as Yang Yi said, the overall shape of the Suns is small, the Pelicans in addition to Valanciunas, as well as Larry Nance Jr., Jaxon Hayes and others, Ingram's height is not weak. So, the Sun must not blame Ayton for the problem.
However, Ayton is now a bit embarrassed, as the 2018 top pick, Ayton will become a restricted free agent in 2022, other teams can offer Ayton contracts, but the Suns have priority matching. Ayton had always wanted to get a top salary, but the Suns seemed to have other ideas. So this year's playoffs will be the key to measuring Ayton's value, and if the personal data is not too good and the team's record is not optimistic, then Ayton's contract will be greatly affected.
In fact, Ayton is an important part of the Sun today, even if the defensive rebound protection is not good, Ayton has other highlights, such as his defense. Valanciunas grabbed 38 rebounds in two games, but he shot only 36.7% of the 30-of-11 offensive end, which is actually the role of Ayton, Valanciunas shot 6-of-21 when directly opposite Ayton, shooting only 28.6%. Ingram's overall shooting percentage is 50%, but when it comes directly against Ayton, it is only 14.3% of the way from 7. CJ McCollum performed even worse, shooting 0-of-8 when directly opposite Ayton.
Ingram, McCollum and Valanciunas are the top three points scorers on the Pelicans, but these three players shot 7-of-36 against Ayton, shooting only 19.4 percent from the field, showing Ayton's defensive power on the inside. All along, Ayton has endured certain doubts, the Suns attack Paul and Booker, Ayton can only play a supporting role at most, and his role on the defensive end is very obvious. The Suns don't want to give Ayton a maximum salary, which is also considering that Paul can make other interiors perform better, but interior lines like Ayton's with height and speed are also very rare. Therefore, the sun also has to be balanced, and if they lose the inside line like Ayton, their prospects will be even dimmer.
Text/Duncan's laugh