With a regular season record of 68 wins and 18 losses and a 78% win rate, can the strong Suns make a comeback in the playoffs and become a championship favorite? Obviously, trying to win the championship is not an easy task to complete, the first round of the playoffs against the weak Pelicans, the Suns are facing a huge dilemma, the current two sides scored to a 2-2 draw, compared to the Pelicans' confidence and relaxed mood, the Suns are more heart-wrenching.
First of all, the reason why coach Monty was fined $15,000 was that Monty publicly criticized the referee after the G4 game and was dissatisfied with the comparison of free throws in the whole game, the Pelicans got 42 free throws and the Suns got 15 free throws, which became the source of Monty's fine.
The disparity in the number of free throws is indeed one of the reasons why the Suns lost the G4, but not all, Monty should understand that the G4 game the Pelicans played quite well, on the contrary, the Suns did not have the king style during the regular season, Paul was also locked at key moments, and Paul has always been a foul machine, and now Monty uses free throw data to accuse the referee of bias towards the Pelicans, which also shows that Monty feels the crisis, the Pelicans are not so easy opponents, the Morale of the Suns has changed, are they really still full of confidence?
Secondly, the star Booker missed G5 due to injury, which is what we call the Battle of Tennosan. Without Booker's Suns, the combat power did decline seriously, and no matter how much Paul improved the Suns, it could not change one thing: Booker was the star of this Sun.
Booker is experiencing a hamstring injury, think about harden last year, Booker wants to recover quickly impossible, so the Suns need to play the Battle of King Mountain without the star Booker, and have to win 2 games to eliminate the Pelicans, but the Pelicans' performance is very unexpected, when the Sun encounters difficulties, maybe the black eight opportunities belonging to the Pelicans really come?
Yes, Black Eight gave the Pelicans a chance, and Monty criticized the referee's decision, which was the sun's mood fluctuating. The most heart-wrenching thing is Booker's absence from the G5, or even the G6 or G7, where the Pelicans do have a chance to complete the Black Eight, where Ingram will prove himself.
In the past three games, Ingram has performed well and shot efficiently, scoring 37 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists, 34 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. If Ingram remains in its current state, it will be a huge threat to the Sun, and without The Booker and Ingram's confrontation restrictions, the Pelicans are not without a chance to eliminate the Suns, at least the opportunity does come out.