The NBA playoffs first round of contention continued, with the West facing a battle for King Mountain, with the Suns at home against the Pelicans.
The Suns are the first in the league, and the Pelicans only ranked ninth in the West during the regular season, and only won an eighth place through successive upsets in the playoffs.
As a result, the two teams were tied 2-2 in the first four games, the series was dragged into Tenno Mountain, and the Pelicans had a clear psychological advantage as a lower dog.
As soon as the game began, the Suns' adjustment was very obvious, Paul added a lot of individual offense, while Ayton continued to exert strength inside, and the Suns quickly established a double-digit lead.
The Pelicans were caught off guard, trailing by 12 points in the first quarter, after which the team struggled to chase points, and the point difference remained around double digits, and the Pelicans always breathed a sigh of relief.
The same was true in the final quarter, the Pelicans had a lot of opportunities to set off a wave of counterattacks, but the young Pelicans had too poor control of details, wasted opportunities again and again, 4 major advantages were lost, and finally lost to the Suns 97-112, the big score was rewritten to 3-2, and the Suns took the lead in getting the match point.
Looking at the whole game, it can be seen that the difference between the two teams in terms of quality, as well as the difference in experience and psychology of the core players when facing the same situation.
After Paul was limited in the last game, he played early in this game, hitting the Pelicans by surprise, and Paul did not keep his physical strength in the second half, which is the key to the Suns' ability to build an early advantage.
Paul played 39 minutes, 8-of-18 shooting, had 22 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals, with only one turnover.
In addition, the suns' adjustment in offensive and defensive strategies has obviously disrupted the pelicans' offensive and defensive rhythm, and also allowed the Suns role players to finally get the opportunity to attack easily and find the key three-point feeling.
The Suns shot 37 percent of 27 three-pointers in the game, the Pelicans shot just a pitiful 20 percent from three-point range, and the Suns scored five more three-pointers, which happened to be the final point difference between the two teams.
Among them, Bridges played a miracle role, 4 three-point shots, 12 of 17 shots, bombed down 31 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 blocks of all-round data, and only rested for 66 seconds.
On the other hand, on the Pelicans side, the team exposed all the problems in one game, and the original 4 major advantages were lost.
The first point is the efficiency and toughness of the core, ingram and CJ performances are disappointing, which is the root cause of the Pelicans' loss, including Ingram 7 of 19 shooting, handing over 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
But there were 5 mistakes, and 7 of 11 free throws, 2 consecutive 1 of the key moments, coupled with near injuries, Ingram was very depressed, and after the end of the final quarter, he directly threw the mineral water bottle on the ground.
CJ's outside line was completely inaccurate, shooting 7 of 22 from the field, 1 of 8 from three-point range, and 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
The slump of the two is the key to the Pelicans' time and time again to force the point difference to single digits, but always lack a breath to reverse the score.
The second point is that the coaching staff is obviously ill-prepared, whether it is Paul's early efforts or the control of the details of the game, the Pelicans coaching staff has not given enough response.
The third point is that the height advantage is dissolved, and the key reason why the Pelicans can continue to be upset is the team's excellent height configuration, and almost all positions occupy the height advantage.
In particular, the combination of the inner line Hayes + Varan gave the Suns a headache, but the Suns successfully resolved this game, using a two-tower lineup, and it was precisely when the Pelicans did not have a core defender, using a double-tower lineup to avoid the shortcomings of the defensive end.
The last point is the momentum, the Pelicans as a dog team, should have the momentum of a desperate fight, the result of this game offensive and defensive ends of the extreme hesitation, but the Suns played decisively and firmly, without fear of fouls and confrontation, and finally won the game.