Pelicans 118-103 Suns, the big score came to 2-2, the west appeared in the third group of TennoYama!
Compared to the sophistication of the sun, the Pelicans showed their youthful positivity, vitality and height advantages. This game gave me the feeling of a Nets and Celtics series, and I was afraid of punching.
Not to mention, the Pelicans' forwards Ingram, Jones, Hayes, Nance Jr. and Murphy have a fight with the Green Army on the defensive end, and can even compete with the Raptors' strange formation.
This series is getting more and more interesting.
One, the out-of-control Paul
Paul made 2 of 8 in this game, 4 points, 11 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers, he sent 38 assists in the first three games but only 2 turnovers, 3 in a single game today, obviously not playing well.
But it's not just the bad data, but more importantly, 2 of Paul's 3 turnovers are in the fourth quarter.
8.5 minutes, Alvarado defended Paul for 8 seconds;
At 6:23, Jones snatched a sideline ball from Crowder and scored a layup that also caused Paul a malicious foul of the first level;
At 5:45, Alvarado broke through to cause Paul to foul;
In the last 2 minutes and 40 seconds, Paul was successfully stolen by Alvarado's back and completed the steal, worthy of the "six mamba".
Obviously, Paul's emotions were out of control, which was rare in Paul. As a master of control and commander of the stadium, the most important trait is to be calm at all times, and he has always been the only one who stirs up others, and few people can arouse his emotions.
When Paul loses control, the sun loses its brain and the game is not easy to win. So how did the Pelicans do it?
The first is that Coach Willie Green has been arranging for different players to swing in front of Paul, and this time CJ, Jones, Ingram, Alvarado and Murphy have all been placed in front of Paul, and Paul has just adjusted to the defense of the opponent and then changed people.
The second is constant physical contact and harassment, in the case of Jones and Alvarado, both of whom have their hands held high at any time, but the torso and the next plate have been harassing Paul, which is also a trick that Paul used to deal with others before, with the purpose of confusing the opponent.
Again, it's a psychological offensive, and the garbage talks are constantly spewing. In this shot, you can often see Alvarado and Jones constantly nagging at Paul, and those dismissive eyes, like you are just about to fall asleep, a mosquito suddenly comes out and "buzzes" in your ear, you will be easily irritable.
All of this adds up a bit like Gwey's Green Army strategy toward Durant: it doesn't feel good to get him to the sidelines to get a glass of water.
But I thought this would be the strategy that the Suns used against Ingram first, but in fact, this Claude has already begun, and he is constantly in contact with Ingram to provoke him.
At the end of the second quarter, the Pelicans missed consecutive offenses and were overtaken by Crowder's three-point shot, which was a bit of that taste. Then I remembered that Claude had also been a member of the Green Army before, but Claude was ultimately less cooperative.
The Suns are not a team that likes to fight with people, Coach Monti is humble, and the other two strikers, Bridges and Cayo, are also a bit of an academic style, without that "mixed-up" temperament, so in the second half Ingram has calmed down.
Before Coach Monty conceded defeat in the fourth quarter, the lineup used was Paul + Penn + Bridges + Crowder + Ayton, and the reason why Payne was used to replace Cayo was because Paul was out of control, and Coach Monty asked Payne to give him a pick-up point, but in this way, the most accurate pitcher on the front line was gone, and the overall lineup was shorter.
Why is the third point more important to the sun?
After the last game, I said that the Suns' three-pointers would not always be 4 of 26, but this one was slightly better, 7 of 27.
But two of the seven three-pointers scored were shot at the end of the garbage time, and the three-point shooting rate of non-garbage time was 5 of 24, which was not as good as the Pelicans' 24 of 6.
So why is there not much difference between the two teams and three points, but the final result is very different?
Because pelicans are tall and the sun is short, the sun is actually equivalent to hitting big with small, and the core of small hit is either fast or accurate. But fast is based on quasi-based, because there is no space, no matter how fast it is, it cannot burst in.
If the Suns aren't accurate enough to punish the Pelicans for their altitude on the offensive end, Varan can stay in the box and not come out. Then when it comes to the defensive end of the Sun, the pelican's height will have a huge advantage, which means that every point is misaligned.
Varan's low post is not easy to defend - Varan this 26 points, 15 rebounds and 4 assists, Ingram's single can not defend - this 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, so three points is the icing on the cake for the Pelicans, and they can play without three points.
The Pelicans' regular-season three-point stats are at least the bottom six in the league, and they average 10.7 three-pointers per game, which is the least outside of the Bulls Wizards.
So with both teams unable to shoot three points, the Pelicans are clearly more dominant.
Why is the sun's three points suddenly inaccurate?
The Suns' regular-season three-point shooting percentage is 36.4 percent, seventh in the league. But by the time it came to the playoffs, it was only 29.3 percent, just slightly better than the Bulls' 28 percent.
Three reasons:
First, a large part of the Suns' three-pointers this year were propped up by Booker, who averaged 7 three-pointers per game this season and shot 38.3 percent from the field, and now Booker is gone, which is equivalent to the team's strong offensive points and best space points;
Second, the Suns' other pitchers have a lot less defensive pressure in the regular season, because the Suns definitely defend Paul Booker and Ayton in the first place. After Booker's absence, Paul and Ayton's blocking is still powerful, but compared to the time when all three people are weakened, the defensive pressure naturally shifts to the pitchers on both sides;
Third, pitchers are inherently suppressed in the playoffs, and the more pure pitchers are, the more intense the game, the more so. If you look at Cayo, it's clear that he shot 42.5 percent from three-point range in the regular season, fourth in the league, but he's dropped to 35 percent in the playoffs, and of course he's still the most accurate one on the Suns.
The next game back to Phoenix, the Suns should have some home advantage, they must firmly grasp to take down the King's Mountain, otherwise Black Eight is really not just talking.
Thanks for reading it all!