On April 25, the first round of the NBA playoffs ended a focus battle, the Pelicans beat the Suns 118-103 at home, pulling the series score to a 2-2 draw, refusing to be picked up by their opponents. The two sides fought each other in this game, the sun chased the points wildly under the leadership of McGee and others in the last quarter, the Pelicans' Ingram and Valanciunas withstood the pressure, opened the score gap again, and finally fell into garbage time for nearly 3 minutes, so that the Pelicans finally succeeded in winning. Booker's injury still had a relatively large impact on the Suns, they were not able to win the match point, and the Pelicans also saw the possibility of black eight after the equalizer, and the next two teams will play against King Mountain.
Ingram, the core pelicans, performed well in this game, he scored 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in the whole game, and the one-arm partition Craig was a classic moment. The 37 and 34 points in the previous two games also gave Ingram a third consecutive game of 30+ in the playoffs, the first time in pelicans history to achieve this feat.
Led the team to victory, the Pelicans players are also very happy, McCollum and Ingram, who joined the team in the middle of the season, were interviewed on the sidelines, in which Ingram patiently listened to the female reporter's questions, while McCollum on the side had jumped up, Ingram covered his eyes, could not bear to look directly, and the Pelicans who won the game were very happy.
Suns coach Monti, who lost the game, was also helpless, and after the game he also said that he was subdued by his opponents: "We were completely defeated tonight, we need to see the gap, I am not afraid to say this in front of the microphone. The Pelicans played with a sense of urgency and perseverance, and I told the team they had to play tough, but the Pelicans were tougher tonight. ”
At the same time, Monti also expressed his dissatisfaction, that is, the number of free throws the Suns only 15 times, while the Pelicans playing at home had 42 times, saying: "The number of free throws is 42 to 15, the other side can cut in any way they want, but in the playoffs, this kind of thing should be difficult to do."
The G5 Battle of King Mountain between the Sun and pelicans will be played on the 27th, and the importance of this match is self-evident. The Suns want to avoid being nailed to the line of shame and reject black eight, this game can not be lost, they will return to Phoenix for the game. The Pelicans want to compete for the 6th black eight in NBA history, and the Battle of King Mountain is also not to be lost.