The Suns narrowly beat the Pelicans 114-111 on the road, rewriting the series score to 2-1. Paul broke out again in the final quarter, scoring 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a single quarter, and hitting 4 goals in a row at a critical moment, laying a solid foundation for the Suns to finally win the game. In the end, Paul scored 28 points, 14 assists and 0 turnovers.
When the Suns were able to lead into the fourth quarter, before today, they had a 48-0 record this season, this time the Suns entered the final quarter with a lead of just 2 points, and due to the lack of main player Devin Booker, the Suns' record looked likely to be ended today, but in the end this magical record was extended, because in addition to Booker, the Suns have another fourth-quarter killer, he is Chris Paul.
Following the first game of the two-side series, Paul once again dominated the fourth quarter of the game, the entire fourth quarter, Paul 10 shots 7 of 19 points of the game, and gave 2 assists, the Suns had 23 points in the last quarter are directly related to Paul, in the tug-of-war with the Pelicans, Paul is the most stable and efficient player of the two teams, in the fourth quarter of the game, he used a precise shot to help the Suns stabilize the situation, and finally won.
Paul's shooting points in the fourth quarter were distributed.
After Booker was injured, many people began to look forward to the birth of the black eight miracle, the Pelicans in the first two games did show that they can compete with the Suns, in the face of such external pressure, Paul once again proved his strength, in addition to the fourth quarter of the unsolvable performance, Paul played the whole game is also extremely good, he bombed 28 points and 14 assists and did not have a single mistake, in the past 2 games, Paul did not have a single mistake, and sent a terrible 28 assists, As a result, he became the player with the most zero-fault assists in two consecutive games in NBA playoff history, a record previously held by NBA all-time assist king Stockton, who delivered 20 assists in two consecutive games without errors.
Throughout his career, Paul is known for his ability to control turnovers, and after today, Paul can be said to be the player with the best assist turnovers than this ability in history, not one, in addition to the 14 assists and 0 turnovers in this game, and it is also the seventh time in paul's playoff career with 10+ assists in a single game without errors, which equals the sum of Larry Bird and Magician Johnson, when a player's record and such two great legends are combined, you can understand the significance of this data.
So far in the series, the overall performance of the Suns is undoubtedly different from what people expect, the process of the game is not as easy as people think, but Paul's personal performance is still impeccable, he can average 25 points and 12.7 assists per game in 3 games, and in 3 games he has given 38 assists and only 2 turnovers, the assist-to-turnover ratio has reached a terrifying 19-1, it can be said that without Paul's god-level performance in the first and third games in the fourth quarter, the Suns are likely to be the side behind by a large score today.
Warriors player Draymond Green has previously said that he does not believe Paul can lead the team to 4 wins in the absence of Booker, but soon Paul proved that even without Booker, under his leadership, the Suns are still a competitive team, and after winning today's game, the Suns have regained home advantage, although Booker still can't return in the series, but at least the Suns are back on their feet, they are still the bigger favorites for this group of series promotions.
'I hope I can tell you that it was all arranged by me, but that's what Paul is capable of, he can see the space on the pitch, he can score, we can still play a reasonable offense.' Suns coach Monty Williams said after the game.
Next month on the 6th, Paul will turn 37 years old, but from the performance of this season's playoffs, the years have not left any mark on Paul, compared to the youth, paul has declined in speed and explosiveness, but in terms of game experience, shooting stability, he is even better than the peak, so having such a St. Paul is undoubtedly a blessing for the Suns, if they can finally wait for Booker's comeback in the playoffs, then the Suns with a complete lineup are still a strong contender for the championship.
For Paul personally, winning today's game is undoubtedly a happy thing, but what happened during the game may make the heart of the Sun core somewhat complicated, during the game, the Pelican fans on the scene insulted Paul when he took the ball, to know that Paul was once the absolute core of the Hornets (now pelicans), helped the team to playoffs many times, or the team's history assist king, for the insults of some fans on the scene, Paul was also very generous after the game, "They are my family, I can't criticize a group because of individuals, I grew up here, and I spent the best six years of my life in New Orleans. ”
Like Paul, Suns coach Monty Williams has also coached for the Pelicans, and for New Orleans fans, Monty said, "I think it's just a small group of people, the city won't be like this, some people's actions don't represent the people of New Orleans, I think they know Paul's contribution to the city." ”
The actions of some Pelicans fans also reinterpret what the playoffs are, under the smoke of the playoffs, even if it is Paul's past feats, it is difficult to be spared, but this will undoubtedly stimulate Paul's play to a certain extent, just like today's game.
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