Brandon Ingram's playoff tear continues with 30 points in Game 4 of the series to help the Pelicans equalize with the Suns / Brandon Ingram's playoff tear continues with 30 points in Game 4 to help New Orleans Pelicans tie series with Phoenix Suns
Published: April 23, 2022 US time
Publisher: the Athletic
Article by Andrew López
Article translated by de Gaulle
For the first 5 years of his career, Ingram was absent from the playoffs. Now, after 6 years in the league, Ingram has finally secured a ticket to the playoffs. So from that perspective, he's a playoff recruit like the Pelicans' rookie Alvarado. However, Ingram's play in the playoffs impressed Alvarado.
"It doesn't seem like that," the Pelicans guard said of his first playoff trip with Ingram, adding that he didn't feel like Ingram was playing in the playoffs for the first time. In addition to his calm performance on the pitch, another thing that makes Alvarado feel that Ingram is different is: "He really wants to win. ”
Ingram's performance really deserves such an appraisal. In the fourth game of the series with the Suns, the core of the Pelicans continued his fiery state and feel, shooting 11 of 23 in a single game, scoring 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. With his help, the Pelicans finally held the home court with a score of 118-103, chasing the series to a 2-2 draw, while also ensuring that they had the opportunity to return home for the sixth game of the series.
If Ingram had only played this one good game, there wouldn't have been so much praise. But if you've seen him play in Game 2 and Game 3 of the series, you'll see that his performance is no accident. In game two of the series, Ingram scored 37 points in a single game, and in the third game after returning home, he scored 34 points, scoring 30+ in three consecutive playoff games, making Ingram the first person in Pelicans history. At the same time, he also became the third player to perform in the first playoff journey after the merger of the NBA and the ABA — the two previous playoff rookies who did this were the famous Aaron Iverson and LeBron James.
If you also count the 18 points in the first game of the series, Ingram's total score in the first four playoff games of his career has reached 119 points. This number can be ranked fifth in the history of the merger of the two major leagues, behind James (137 points), Anthony Davis (126 points), Doncic (126 points) and Morant (124 points).
"Brandon (Ingram) has been contributing his best performances all season," Pelicans head coach Willie Green said, "and today, he continues to play like this on the biggest stage in the league." It's great to see this scene because he has the ability. Like I said before: he's a real character. He did his best on the pitch, he was fully committed on the training ground, and all of that is now on display in front of us. ”
Just like the Pelicans won the second game of the series, Ingram was also full of fire in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 points in a single quarter, an exaggerated anti-basket action, and won the applause of the whole house. But that was just the beginning, and in the third quarter of the game, Ingram scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting in a single quarter to help the Pelicans establish a lead. Although no points were scored in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans, who had gone crazy, completely killed the game suspense with a 12-0 offensive wave.
"I feel like it's time for us to perform," Ingram said, "and we've been working hard all these years to be the better team we are today." We also finally got the opportunity to continue to perform well on such a really big stage. My teammates have been a great help to me in the right position and then sent me the right pass and made me a very good view of shooting. So it's the result of team efforts, and I really enjoy playing with these teammates. ”
Individual performances, tacit cooperation with the team, allowed the Pelicans to play the Suns 35-23 in the third quarter of the fourth game of the series. And this is not the first time such a scene has appeared. According to statistics, after playing four games in the series, looking at the third quarter alone, the Pelicans led the Suns with an aggregate score of 137 to 93. In the third quarter of each game, the Pelicans scored at least 30 points in a single quarter, and the Suns had only 22 points in the remaining three games except for one 23 points.
Now, the series is back to square one, with 7-4 wins and a 3-2-win white-knife battle scaled back. Originally, the Suns, who won 64 and lost 18 in the regular season, faced the Pelicans with 36 wins and 46 losses, whether in terms of record or strength, had an overwhelming advantage. This can also be confirmed by historical data. According to statistics, this year's series between the Suns and pelicans is the 30th time in history that the gap between the number of regular season wins between the two sides has reached 25 or more series. In the past 29 rounds of similar disparities in the series, 28 times have been teams with higher regular season wins and final victories. Therefore, the sun's final promotion advantage is still very large.
However, in the data above, there is one exception. In 2007, the Warriors, known as the "Golden State Bandits" that year, were behind the Dallas Mavericks in the regular season with a record of 25 games, and the first round of the playoffs overturned the opponent, completed the "Black Eight Miracle", and became the founder of history. So since there was a precedent, will the Pelicans create a second period of history?
There is one more data worth noting. In the history of the NBA playoffs, after the first round was changed to a 7-4 win system, the first and eighth meetings, there were only nine first four games to 2-2. In the previous eight times, the eighth-place team had never won a game in the end, and was eventually eliminated by a large score of 2-4. So for the Pelicans, if they want to change their lives, they need to continue the state and performance of the first four games to every game, every minute of the showdown.
The Pelicans' biggest advantage is that his top card, Ingram, is in good shape.