In the G2 match between the Suns and the Pelicans, the Suns not only lost the game, but were pulled to a 1-1 draw by the opponent, losing home advantage, and also losing the number one star and scorer Booker.
Booker was suddenly injured in a back-and-forth defense in the fourth quarter of that game and was never able to return. His injury was finally determined to be a first-degree strain of hamstrings and would likely be out for 2-3 weeks, or at least 7-10 days.
Booker's importance to the Suns is self-evident, he is the team's number one scorer, averaging 26.8 points, 5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, and is the arrow on the team's offensive end, both with the ball and without the ball.
In addition, he has excellent tandem ability to play the role of the big core of the ball, which was fully demonstrated in the more than a month that Paul was absent due to a broken finger, during which time Booker incarnated as the big core of the ball and helped the Suns achieve a fairly high winning percentage.
Of course, it may be that it was during that period of time that I underwent an excessive task and experienced overloaded operation that led to the occurrence of this injury. A 2-3 week absence basically means missing all the remaining games in the first round. Even if he returns early after 7-10 days, problems such as hamstring injuries have a great impact on the player's performance, as seen by Harden in the playoffs last season.
The Suns' conventional tactic is that Booker is in charge of tackling tough problems in the first three quarters, taking the lead, and Paul stands up in the final quarter to take over the game. Now that Booker is injured, the Suns will not have a good scorer, which will be a fatal flaw in the playoffs, after all, the playoffs are the stage for competing superstars.
Although Paul has been able to take over the game again and again in the fourth quarter, he is not a pure scorer after all, and it is difficult to maintain a high-quality output for a long time. In addition, Paul is 37 years old after all, and greatly increasing his offensive proportions will be a huge drain on his physical strength, and it is likely to affect the efficiency of his organizational tandem.
With Booker, the Suns have not yet shown an overwhelming and absolute advantage over the Pelicans, and the total score has been equalized, and it is conceivable that without Booker, the Suns will be particularly difficult in the next game, and even the opponent Black Eight is very likely.
A similar situation is not unheard of, in the 11/12 season, the Bulls won the first place in the Eastern Conference regular season, facing the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs, they won the G1 game, but the star Rose was injured in the game, the season reimbursement, caused a fatal blow to the team, the Bulls were eventually eliminated by the 76ers 4-2 below the gram, tragically black eight.
Today, the Sun faces a similar situation, and the only luck is that Booker is not reimbursed. For the Suns, Booker's irreplaceability is stronger than Paul's, after all, without Paul, Payne can more or less top one, and Booker can also stand up to take on some organizational tasks. Without Booker, no one on the Suns has his absolute singles ability, and no one can score 31 points in the half like him.
In the regular season, the Suns have overcome the difficulties caused by the unfavorable start and the injuries of Booker and Paul in turn, and played the best record in the history of the team with 64 wins and 18 losses, this time, in the cruel playoffs, can they survive the difficulties?