On April 25, Beijing time, the fourth showdown between the Sun and the Pelicans, the referee caused a huge controversy. After the game, Suns coach Monty Williams and Paul both expressed their dissatisfaction with the penalty. During the match, paul was deliberately pushed down by his opponent and exposed, right under the referee's eyes, but there was no penalty.
Let's take a look at what Monty and Paul both said about the referees after the game. Suns coach Monti said, "Today's free throw ratio is 15 of us, they have 42, which is unimaginable in the playoffs. ”
Paul was even more sarcastic, "It's like an old-school game, isn't it?" I asked one of tonight's referees, and I said, are we playing an old-school game or a new style of basketball? I've been lucky that I've been through both types of competitions. ”
Throughout the game, the Suns made 10 of 15 free throws and the Pelicans made 32 of 42 free throws, and the free throws were indeed very different. The old-school basketball paul is talking about when Jordan faced the Pistons, the defensive treatment, all kinds of pulls, confrontation.
There is such a scene in this game, Paul and Jones first push each other on the field, and the action is quite large. Jones turned his head to the referee to express his displeasure, and then the two of them were stuck again, this time Jones directly pushed Paul to the ground with both hands.
All this happened right under the referee's nose, and without hearing the referee's whistle, Paul got up and expressed his dissatisfaction. It is worth mentioning that in the last match against Hayes, there was a similar move to topple Claude, resulting in a second-degree malicious foul and directly expelled. However, this time the referee did not even blow the ordinary foul, and it is no wonder that the Suns will be dissatisfied with the penalty after the game.
Of course, in this showdown, the sun's bigger reason for losing is still himself, and Paul can be said to have played the worst playoff game of his career. Only 4 points, 0 of 3 points, no free throws, all of them are the worst of their careers. In addition, he shot 25% from the field, the third worst in his career.