At 112-97, the Suns held the home court, leading 3-2 on aggregate, one win before the promotion, and the "black eight" haze brought by the fourth loss was cleared by more than half.
Before the start of this game, there are two sets of data that can provide a reference for the movement of this game.
Stat 1: The Suns have 64 wins in the regular season this season, the Pelicans are 36 wins, and the two teams are 28 wins apart, which is the 30th time in NBA history that the two teams have lost at least 25 regular season wins in the series, and 28 of the previous 29 times have been won by the side with the better regular season record, the only exception being the 2007 Warriors Black Eight Lone Ranger. The regular season Lone Rangers won 25 more games than the Warriors that season.
Stat 2: This is the ninth time since the NBA adopted the first round of the seven-game four-win system that the aggregate score of the first and eighth first four games has been 2-2, and the previous eight times have been the first to win the fifth and sixth games in the division to achieve promotion.
From the historical data, the advantage is on the side of the sun, but history is what happened in the past and does not have a decisive impact on the present. Moreover, refreshing history is the charm of competitive sports, who can climb the Tianwang Mountain, but also depends on the game play, simply put, who can play the strengths and avoid the shortcomings.
The Suns' strength is the league's most stable offensive and defensive execution, the best guard control of the field, the disadvantage is that the three-point shooting in this series is too iron, the body shape is inferior to the Pelicans, and Booker's injury stop has led to the lack of a strong point blaster. The Pelicans' strength is definitely better physical talent, with main attacker Ingram in hot form in his first four games.
The reason why the Suns lost in the fourth game was because they could not stop Ingram's talent bombardment, and the second was that Paul was tangled up by Jones and Alvarado, playing a single 4-point show that "homed" the 58-point tragedy, the Pelicans played the advantage, and the strongest point on the Suns field was pressed, which directly determined the winner and loser.
The loser adjusted first, one of the changes in the Suns was that Ayton gave Paul a higher cover position, and some rounds the Suns also took out double cover, trying to let Paul avoid Jones and Alvarado's body strangulation, and the Pelicans used "supporting roles" to consume the Suns' "protagonist" in the fourth game, and Monty Williams could not bear it.
The Pelicans started the game to prevent and unpack Paul, testing Paul's ability to play the ball, this test for CP3 is a bit of an "open-book test", the Pelicans also understand how high paul's passing level is, but Coach Willie Green has a word first, the Pelicans would rather let the other players of the Suns shoot than be killed by Paul.
Coach Monty also saw the move, the Suns played some Paul block to launch an attack, teammates received a transfer, the coverer cut the basket with the cooperation, such as this ball, Paul was not immediately given to Ayton after being clipped, but passed to Claude on the right, Cameron Johnson stood in the bottom corner, the Pelicans' midfield defense was pulled open, and Ayton drove straight into the ball to score.
The Pelicans, whether it is defensive position warfare or anti-fast attack, have the problem of over-focusing on the line and missing the bottom line, allowing the Suns to play a smooth Routine of Paul's orchestration, teammate transition, and Ayton's end.
Ayton scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first six minutes of the game, tied with the Pelicans' first six minutes. Ayton's mid-range shots and cuts into the basket cost the Pelicans' opening pack-and-hold Paul's tactics, and his mobile offense made it difficult for the Pelicans to use Valanciunas, and the speed of Varan was a bit out of step, and if it wasn't, the Pelicans damaged their size advantage.
While Booker was still recuperating, the Pelicans gave Paul a high-intensity defense, Ayton's strong response was a key line for the Suns to win, and "Dunbo" played smart and tough.
Another key line for the Suns to win is Paul, who is used to playing in the first four games by passing the ball in the first three quarters and taking over in the fourth quarter, but after the downturn in the fourth game, Paul will advance the firing time, scoring 16 points in the first half, and his average score in the first half of the previous four games is 5.3 points, and the shameful CP3 will be full of fire in the first two quarters this time.
This kind of fullness also has a negative effect, when Paul was replaced to rest, the camera captured him breathless, Paul's first four games of first passing and attacking style of play is in line with his 37-year-old physical condition, saving the strength until the fourth quarter and then using it, but the 2-2 draw situation makes Paul have to move the time of personal attack forward to set the tone for the game.
Paul played 21 minutes in the first half, only 3 minutes off, he played less than 7 1/2 minutes in the third quarter, and only changed 1 minute and 25 seconds after the start of the fourth quarter, and the Suns gave him time to catch his breath in the half, which was the adverse effect of the first half.
Paul wasn't there, the solar energy couldn't hold up, it was a big problem, the Suns did it, Bridges and Payne were the two heroes. Bridges scored 11 points in the third quarter, scoring a career-high 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the game, 4-of-4 from three-point range to give the Suns a big meal when hungry shots from long range, and "Bridge" had made 2 of 9 three-pointers in the previous four games, and the "three-point account" owed was paid off once.
Payne is another surprise, also the first round of the playoffs, last season's Payne beat the Lakers to tears, the first four games of the season were to make the Suns tear up, averaging 4.8 points per game, shooting only 29.6% from the field, and losing all 12 three-pointers. This game Payne is also even with the profit to return the previous "account", 12 minutes and 12 points, three-pointers 3 of 2, the iron tree blossom for the sun is really thirsty.
Bridges and Payne put the state back, not the icing on the cake for Paul, but the snow, after all, hand-to-hand combat with Alvarado is really tiring, and the confrontation and cutting of the "old six" are very devouring the opponent's physical strength. Paul's efficiency had come down in the second half, with 2-of-6 shooting in the last two quarters, but the strong output of his teammates filled the hole where Paul's personal projection quality declined, and he also dug a hole for the Pelicans.
Just as Alvarado pestered Paul, Bridges also chased Ingram, and the "bridge" only rested for 1 minute and 6 seconds, attacking and defending together. Monti's defensive strategy is to defend on the perimeter, when Ingram bursts into the free throw line area and then clamps up, Ayton and McGee take turns guarding the basket, and also use the Pelicans to play for a period of time when they are not swinging the demolition guard, and Biyombo also got 8 minutes to play.
Monty gambled on the Pelicans' outside line to give no response, and the Pelicans gave a three-pointer in the second game after giving a long-range shooting explosion of 30 and 17 from 30, this time directly to 5 of 25 shooting, and Ingram and McCollum combined to make 2 of 13 three-pointers. Both guns lost the long-range shooting crosshairs, the Sun's defense line shrank smaller and smaller, and the Pelicans were difficult to form a continuous chasing attack, all of which were piecemeal.
This ball is a typical sun style game, it is their confidence to take the first place in the regular season, Paul 22 points, 11 assists and 3 steals only 1 mistake, although the "old six" tough alignment, the second half of the personal firepower weakened, but the first two quarters laid the foundation, the whole game to drive teammates is still the style of super controller.
Ayton, Bridges and Payne gave paul the necessary support when he faced a strong defensive position, and the Suns played a multi-point blossoming attack, while blocking the penalty area at the defensive end, and the upper clamp mode lowered the projection efficiency of the Pelicans' two-gun gun, Ingram 19 shots 12 iron, McCollum 22 shot 15 iron.
The Pelicans were a little ill-prepared for this battle, very slow to respond to the changes in the Sun, and when they did not score three points and played the inside line, the very lethal mid-range also disappeared, Ingram failed to pull and shoot the Suns like the last game, and after the Suns came up with a tougher confrontation, the play was a little confused, and the discomfort of the elbows also aggravated his anxiety in the game.
Game six will be back in New Orleans, where the Pelicans are fighting backwaters, and to keep the series going, Ingram needs to give tougher game-breaking shots, and the Pelicans should theoretically be back on the warm when the three-pointers are already iron to only 20 percent shooting. The Pelicans have both hit back with a win after losing two of their previous games, can they do it this time?