Pelicans, win.
In the first round of G2, the Pelicans won 125-114 away to the Suns, pulling the big score into a 1-1 draw, the first half of the game ended the Suns also led 61-56, in the third quarter, the Pelicans played a 34-22 single-quarter counterattack, although the fourth quarter was once chased by the Suns, but in the end there was a thrill to win.
In this game, Ingram played one of the best performances of his career, he played 39 minutes, shooting 13 of 21 from the field, 3 of 3 from three-point range, 8 of 8 from the free throw line, and had 37 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, and the plus-minus was the team's high of +18.
In the third quarter, Ingram scored 14 points in a single quarter; in the crucial fourth quarter, he scored 12 points and 4 rebounds again; in the last 4 minutes, the Suns approached the score under Paul's leadership, and at this time, Ingram also scored key goals in a row:
— With 3 minutes and 40 seconds left, Ingram hit a three-pointer to give the Pelicans 113-106 Suns
— With 2 minutes and 41 seconds left, Ingram pulled dry in mid-range, Pelicans 118-110 Suns
— With 1 minute and 58 seconds left, Ingram scored another three points, pelicans 120-113 Suns
— With 1 minute and 08 seconds left, Ingram hit two free throws and the Pelicans 123-114 Suns
In those four minutes, Ingram alone scored 10 of the team's 15 points, and the Pelicans also won the first playoff victory in the past four years under his leadership.
In addition, Ingram set several records:
1. Ingram is the second player in Pelicans history to have 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a single game in the playoffs, the first being David West, who had 38 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists in a single game in the 2008 playoffs
2. Ingram's true shooting rate reached 75.4%, and he became the fifth player in playoff history to achieve "37+11+9+1+1" with a true shooting rate of more than 75%, the first four being Barkley, James, Durant and Butler
3, plus the last game, Ingram's first two playoff games totaled 55 points, 16 rebounds and 13 assists, looking at history, only "Big O" Oscar Robertson's three first two playoff games were higher than Ingram
As far as playoffs are concerned for the first time, the performance of the warbler song can be said to be very good.
In fact, in this year's regular season, Ingram's performance has been tepid, he has only played 55 games due to injury, the highest score is "only" 40 points, the average data is 22.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, the three shooting rate is 46.1%/32.7%/82.6%, and the true shooting rate is 55.4%.
As a comparison, over the past two seasons, Ingram's stats:
In the 2019-20 season, he averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, shooting 39.1% from three-point range and 58.7% from the field.
In the 2020-21 season, he averaged 23.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game, shooting 38.1% from three-point range and 58.4% from the field.
Ingram has made great strides in his first season with the Pelicans, not only being named the fastest improving player, but also being named an All-Star, and in theory, he should have taken another step towards being a superstar, but in these two regular seasons, he has not fared much better than the All-Star season two years ago.
As far as this season is concerned, with one less All-Star teammate Zion and CJ not joining in the first half, Ingram should have to pick up more offensive responsibility, and from the results, Ingram's passing level has improved, and the use of the ball has increased from 28.0% to 29.3%, but the personal offense has not improved much, and his shooting percentage and three-point shooting rate are the lowest in the past five seasons.
Of course, this is not to say that Ingram is bad, on the contrary, the Pelicans really need Ingram:
In Ingram's 55 games, the Pelicans have a record of 29 wins and 26 losses
In the 27 games in which Ingram missed, the Pelicans recorded 7 wins and 20 losses
When Ingram played, the Pelicans won 3.1 points per 100 possessions
—Ingram didn't play, and the Pelicans lost 4.3 points per 100 rounds
In the playoffs against the Clippers, if ingram had not been 14-of-21 and shot down 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, the Pelicans might not have even been able to stand on the playoff stage, and this victory is even more illustrative - Ingram in playoff mode may be much stronger than in the regular season.
Of course, this is only a victory, pelicans and Ingram still need to continue to play strong in the next series - in the past two games, the Pelicans and The Suns may really have a fight, plus the Suns Core Booker suffered a hamstring injury in this game, the comeback time is undecided, Black Nine? Topics that were not very realistic before the start seemed to have more possibilities.