Last season, the Lakers made it to the playoffs with a record of seventh in the West, facing the freshman Suns, the former defending champion was full of confidence in the black seven, but in the end, because of the injury of the thick eyebrows, they were won by the opponent in three consecutive sets in a 2-1 lead, and James' first playoff first round of his career. The Lakers can't do it, but this year there is a team that has a chance to complete the Black Eight Miracle when facing the Suns.
In G4 of today's Suns and Pelicans series, Ingram and Valanciunas played well, scoring 26 points, 15 rebounds and 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists respectively, helping the team win the game 118-103 while chasing the big score to 2-2, and the two sides will play the next battle of King Mountain. Playing with the eighth team in the West, the Suns are really difficult to understand, although this has the reason for Booker's absence due to injury, but it is more to put the reason on Paul. In today's key battle, Sao Paulo only got 4 points, 3 rebounds and 11 assists, and he was not able to carry the team on his shoulders.
It turned into a best-of-three game game, and the Pelicans saw hope of winning the series. Ingram's four games averaged 29.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, looking nothing like a young player playing in the playoffs for the first time, CJ also had 24.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists, and the most frightening thing is that neither of them is actually the boss of the team. Zion has been missing for more than a season due to injury, and if he can come back, how strong can this Pelicans team be now?
Earlier, journalist Shams Charina said that Zion thought he could play in the game, and the reason for the delay in returning to the game was that the team had no intention of letting him come back directly in the playoffs, implying that his injury had recovered. A key factor in management not letting him play in the playoffs may be that the team is not as good as the Sun, and it is difficult to win the series by risking a comeback, but now the situation is different, after Booker's injury, the strength of the two sides has become balanced, and if the Pelicans eventually win the series, then the probability of Zion's comeback is very high.
Are the Pelicans really going to eliminate the Suns with eighth place in the West?