In a way, it was Chris Paul who introduced the world to the real Ingram.
In the second game of the 2018-19 regular season, in the Lakers' home game with the Rockets, although Rondo fought with Paul first, Ingram, who rushed into the crowd at lightning speed and gave Paul a "cannon fist" warning, was the mvp of that fight.
He was just 21 years old and had just started his third NBA season.
Originally from Duke University, he was a senior disciple of coach K, and when he entered the industry, he was known as Little Durant, and came to Angel City as a leader.
His eyes looked like Maddy's, his thin figure resembled Adu's, and his gentle smile reminded him of Grant Hill.
In the eyes of people, he should be a well-behaved boy, the kind of good boy who will look at him coldly even if the whole team fights.
The punch given to Chris Paul made people see the devil in his heart.
He was thin, but not soft at all.
Old K said:
"He didn't need protection at all, he was much stronger than he thought. The most important thing is that he has a very strong will. ”
He beat the mud bull around LeBron, but when he reached the Pelicans, it was like opening up the second vein of Ren Dou. Becoming the second All-Star after 2016 rookie Ben Simmons, just like the two of them were in line for the draft.
He was born to be the kind of man who was the boss.
And today, he gave Chris Paul another punch.
Shooting 11-of-23, with 30 points, 4 boards and 5 assists, he led the Pelicans to a 118-103 home win over the Suns.
Only one three-pointer and seven free throws out of those 30. But there are five shots.
It is said that the Suns have two middle-range champions, Paul and Booker, in fact, Ingram is also the top five mid-range players in the league this season, second only to DeRozan, Durant, Paul and Booker.
He missed 13 games in the second half of the season due to a right hamstring injury, but the Pelicans soared under McCollum and finally lost the Lakers to get a play-off ticket.
But everyone knows that in the Pelicans, who are now absent from Zion, the All-Star forward who plays the most like Kevin Durant in the league, is the real reliance of the team.
Sure enough, the play-offs won over the Spurs, he had 27 points, 5 boards and 5 assists,
Kill the Clippers, he 30 points, 6 boards and 6 assists.
Among the lakers in the post-Kobe era, only he can carry the team into the playoffs as an absolute core.
Unexpectedly, in the first playoff journey of his career, he would meet the old enemy Chris Paul, and the Phoenix Suns, who were the number one in the league behind him.
But Ingram, did not know what was instigation.
He trailed by 19 points (34-53) in the first half, but went all the way back, and if it weren't for Paul's 19 points in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans would have almost flipped.
Booker scored 30 points in the first half of the second game, but in the second half, the Song also exploded for 27 points, and the whole game was 37 points, 11 boards and 9 assists of the "quasi-triple double". The final away 125-114 turned the sun upside down.
In the last game, Paul had 28 points and 14 assists, although he helped the Suns to cross the danger 114-111, Ingram was 34 points, 7 boards and 2 assists to play opposite the best defensive player hot Bridges could not lift his head.
At least in this series, Ingram has proven:
Alone out, Booker and Paul are not vain.
And today's game, the Pelicans are not ready to let Paul lead the league boss alone. In addition to being briefly overtaken by the Suns before the end of the first half, the Pelicans pressed the Suns almost all the time.
Ingram opened with a mid-range shot and a long-range shot to make the Pelicans' first five points. Neither Cameron Johnson's defense nor Ayton's complement is out of reach in front of his long arms.
The Pelicans led 25-22 in the first quarter, with the Orioles alone taking 11 points.
Paul, by contrast, was targeted by the Pelicans in this game. Without Booker, everyone knows that his and Ayton's blocking will be the engine of the Suns' offense.
In the case of having already been beaten twice by him, the Pelicans used the same thinking as the Bucks in last year's Finals.
Prioritize killing Paul, and have the ability to kill me with others.
Paul had 4 points and 1 assist in the first quarter, but that was all he had scored in the game. By the time Monty had one and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter to replace the Suns' full-time main force, Paul's stats were frozen at 4 points, 3 boards and 11 assists.
The Pelicans' bench point guard and "old Liu" Alvardo's defense annoyed him, and even made a low-level mistake of "8 seconds but halftime".
After 11 points in the first quarter, the third quarter was 16 points in a single quarter, and his lightning acceleration, soft hand, and the most lethal mid-range made the Suns, the first-ever winning favorite in the regular season, unable to do anything.
Whether it's Bridges, Crowder or Craig or Ayton in front of him, he always has a way to put the ball into the basket.
The pelicans ended the third quarter with a 77-72 lead over the Suns.
Inc. Ingram didn't even need a shot in the fourth quarter, and Pelicans Lithuanian center Valenciunas blasted the Suns' penalty area with 11 points and four boards in a single quarter. Ayton, who is bent on a big contract with a maximum salary, seems to be back in the years when the league's defensive efficiency was at the bottom of the rookie year.
Without Booker, the Suns lost their ability to solve tough problems in key moments, and they couldn't expect the 36-year-old Paul to play in the fourth quarter.
The "point guard god", who has always been calm and cunning, also lost his mind this time, not only after Crowder's mistake " headshot" Jones received a first-level malicious foul, but also finally let "old six" Alvarado break the ball in the backcourt, which attracted cheers from the audience.
This game can be described as a loss and a loss.
The aggregate score was 2-2, and in the next game they will face a match at home to Tennozan.
Before the playoffs began, who would have thought that the league's number one Sun would be dragged into The King's Mountain by the Ninth Pelicans of the West.
However, after enjoying the Lakers without thick eyebrows last year, the Nuggets without Murray, and the Clippers without Leonard, this year they themselves experienced the bitterness of the core absence from the playoffs.
But if you really can't even pass the pelican level, it's too humiliating.
This will be the first "Black Nine Miracle" in the NBA's 75-year history.
And the injured will be Chris Paul again.
2016-17 At the Clippers, he was around griffin for two consecutive years,
In 2018, in the Rockets, he was injured again and missed the last two games against the Warriors,
In last year's playoffs, facing the wolf-like alphabet brother + Dalo + Portis' interior group, the only substitute center Saric was reimbursed for the season.
This year, it was replaced by the team's most important sharp knife Booker.
If he were to be eliminated like this, Ingram would have given him a much harder punch this time than he had given four years ago.