On April 23, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued in full swing. In the previous G2 battle, because the team's star Devin Booker suffered an injury, the Phoenix Suns, who were pulled back by the Pelicans, came to New Orleans to meet the G3 showdown of the series. A fortuitous defeat by the Suns gave the Pelicans hope for a dark horse. But as a team far ahead in the regular season, the Suns have few shortcomings that can be discussed.
Devin Booker's injury does affect the efficiency of the team on the scoring end to some extent, but we have to trust the historic point guard Chris Paul. His ability to read games is unparalleled, always standing up in times of crisis and combing through the team's offense to help players send out one explosive stat after another. In fact, whether it is Ayton as a champion or McGee on the bench, he can fit Paul perfectly on the inside and get the opportunity to catch the ball again and again.
And at the beginning of the game, although the Pelicans' starting center Hayes was able to complete the dunk first, to the embarrassment of the beginning of the game. However, Ayton was also able to deliver 13 points and 4 rebounds in the first quarter of the game. Even though it failed to help the team achieve the feat of domination, the Pelicans only took a one-point lead with a 29-28 score. However, after entering the second quarter, the Suns were able to maintain a steady output, and the Pelicans fell into the scoring king, allowing the Pelicans to successfully score 31-19 and take a 12-point lead in the single quarter.
At the end of the first half, the Suns led the Pelicans by a crucial 11 points. Entering the second half of the competition, who would have thought that the Pelicans would react quickly and launch a counterattack. Ingram played 12 minutes of the third quarter, delivering 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, and McCollum also had 9 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, leading the team to a 31-22 score, chasing back the 9 points behind in the first half. By the time they reached the crucial final-quarter showdown, the gap between the two sides had narrowed to 2 points, and the Pelicans had another chance to hit back in the final quarter.
However, in the fourth quarter of the tiebreaker, Paul did not give the Pelicans another chance to fight back. That's right, the 37-year-old veteran once again played the style of the king of the final quarter, shooting 7 of 10 from the field, delivering 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, leading the team to a 33-32 score, and rejecting the Pelicans' final-quarter reversal with a score of 114-111. Once again, the results of the matter prove that even if the Suns' star Booker is absent, the Pelicans will have to get the consent of Paul and Ayton if they want to achieve a dark horse!
Ayton played 35 minutes in a single game, delivering a team-high score of 28 points and 17 rebounds. With this data, he not only set a new record for his single-game scoring in the playoffs, but also dominated the inner line, giving his opponents a lot of internal pressure. When Ayton dominated the inside line and effectively alleviated the pressure on the team's scoring end, Chris Paul's performance was also very amazing, sending 19 points in the last quarter, and delivering 28 points, 4 rebounds and 14 assists! Booker was absent, Ayton and Booker stepped forward to help the team relieve the pressure of scoring, and the Suns were indeed a magical team.
Of course, we also have to admit that the Pelicans are tough and worthy of respect for their never-say-die spirit. But the strength of the Suns is here, and they don't have a big problem advancing to the Western Conference semifinals, and the Pelicans are still delusional if they want to achieve a dark horse.