At 114-111, the Suns beat the Pelicans to freeze the series at 2-1, the key to victory, and Paul dominated the game in two ways.
Paul led the Suns to victory over the Pelicans 28+4+14
Booker was sidelined due to injury, the Suns' strength plummeted, and in the face of difficulties, Paul's first method was as follows - activate Ayton.
In terms of talent, Ayton was above all the Pelicans players who could play, but because the team's playing style was dominated by Paul and Booker, he became a supporting role, and when Booker was absent, Paul opened the Ayton seal with his historic passing ability.
Paul assisted on Ayton's dunk
For example, this attack, Paul killed to the paint, Valanciunas made up the defense, Paul made a clever pass under the armpit, and Ayton regained his hand. Throughout the game, Paul delivered 14 assists, and under his grooming, Ayton efficiently bombed 28 points and 17 rebounds on 13-of-20 to support the inside offensive flag, making up for the scoring gap left by Booker.
Ingram and McCollum led the Pelicans to a tenacious counterattack, and at one point in the final quarter, 88-86, at a critical moment, Paul began to officially take over the game, as follows:
First, the pelican does not change defense.
Paul middle distance
Paul and Ayton's left arc top block, the Pelicans' strategy is to be chased by Ingram, Varan crouched down to guard the basket, Paul took advantage of ingram's gap behind Ayton to directly mid-range.
Paul misplaced the military to train Nance
After Paul bullied Varan three times in a row that he could not change the defense, Willie Green directly replaced Nance Jr. to achieve unlimited changes, the result is shown in the figure, even if the difficulty coefficient increases, Paul can still face Nance Jr. with an insoluble mid-range punishment.
Paul breaks the bag
The Pelicans had no choice but to sacrifice the bag defense, and as shown in the picture, Paul found Johnson of the free throw line before Alvarado formed the bag, and the latter passed the empty Cut Bridges, who made two fouls.
Paul's offensive rebounds help Crowder in mid-range
In addition, although Paul is short and too old, but when it comes to the decisive moment, his desire to win is not inferior to that of any young man, even, more exuberant than others, when he shoots three points to hit iron, can you imagine the old cannon actually like an arrow to fight for offensive rebounds before CJ, and then calmly help Crowder hit two points?
Throughout the final quarter, Paul shot 7 of 10, including 7 of 8 from mid-range, plus 5 of 6 from the free throw line, and won 19 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in a single quarter, directly influencing the outcome of the game.
Booker was absent, Paul activated the team with 12 assists in the first three quarters, including Ayton's big explosion; in the last quarter, when the team needed a super leader to control the fate, he carried the team to victory with a retro mid-range, and the two-pointer of 9 of 12 in the game exploded with 28 points, 4 rebounds and 14 assists, including 19 points in the final quarter, let's call out his name again - Sao Paulo!