In game 6 of the Pelicans' series against the Suns, after losing the last game at TennoZan, the Pelicans face a back-to-back battle that would end early if they lost again. To make matters worse, in this game, the Suns' main player Booker ushered in a comeback in the line of fire, and it will be even more difficult for the Pelicans to win. In the end, the Suns also narrowly defeated the Pelicans 115:109 and successfully advanced.
In this series, in addition to the final result, the topic that many fans are talking about is undoubtedly the showdown between Paul and the Pelicans' Alvarado. In this game, the former once again showed the style of the league's first point guard, shooting all 14 of the game, scoring a game-high 33 points with a staggering 100% shooting rate, and 5 rebounds and 8 assists. The latter came off the bench for 30 minutes and scored a good 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, although the two have a very large gap in stats and performance, but many fans are full of good feelings for Alvarado in this series.
In fact, as a role player, Alvarado has become one of the most watched players in the league in the regular season this season, the most important of which is his stealing like a thief. In the regular season, Alvarado, who was originally at the end of the bench, with his short stature and accurate judgment, often buried in the bottom line after the offensive round, waiting for the opponent to sneak attack when the ball was served. Because the opponent is always unexpected, many players have suffered losses, either directly snatched or forced to make mistakes, including Caruso, Trae Young and other players have suffered losses.
Because of his "amazing" operation in the regular season, Alvarado has also impressed many teams, and many fans have given him nicknames such as "six mambas". Of course, such a nickname also expresses the disdain of many fans to him to some extent, but he never cares about the evaluation of the outside world, but has always insisted on helping the team through his own way. However, the reason why Alvarado has been able to become a regular rotation player step by step in this season's Pelicans is that in addition to flexible steals, he can also average 6.1 points and 2.8 assists per game in 15.4 minutes per game.
When the Pelicans win two consecutive playoff games and finish in the playoffs as ninth in the West, they will play the league's number one Suns in the first-round series. Before the start of the series, almost all fans thought that Alvarado would not get any advantage in front of Paul, who has a "point guard", and in front of Paul, who has a high ball quotient, It will be difficult for Alvarado to complete the steal as easily as he does against other players. And it seems that this is indeed the case, in the second game of the series, when Alvarado repeated the trick and ambushed the bottom line to try to steal Paul, the latter recognized it at a glance and waved it to make him quickly walk away, which also made the scene very embarrassing.
But Alvarado remained unforgiving, and he did not give up his defensive style, which also allowed him to play a number of roles in the defensive end in the following games. In the crucial fourth game, when the Pelicans were already trailing 1-2 by the big score, Alvarado forced Paul head-on in the final quarter, resulting in a rare low-level mistake like an 8-second violation. In the final two minutes, he also successfully completed the steal for Paul behind him, assisted his teammates to complete the layup, and this goal also took a big blow to the morale of the Suns, and finally the Pelicans also won this crucial victory. In this game, Paul was extremely depressed and only scored 4 points, which was inseparable from Alvarado's desperate defense.
In the Battle of King's Hill, Alvarado also had a good performance against Paul, and in the final quarter, when the Pelicans were only 8 points behind, he once again forced Paul's 8 seconds of the half, and Paul was also very upset after this mistake, and he also received a technical foul. In addition to this, he also caused Payne's 6th foul, which caused the latter to graduate and leave. In this game, Alvarado also had the league add a malicious foul to him after the game while defending Paul. In the sixth game, Alvarado's performance also allowed Paul to suffer another foul.
In short, in this series, Alvarado has won the love of many fans with his outstanding performance. Although he is generally on the side of the complete explosion in the confrontation with Paul, he can also cause Paul a lot of trouble in many cases. On the one hand, he has made many mistakes in this series, which not only allowed the Pelicans to gain valuable ball rights, but also his tight defense also consumed Paul's physical strength to the greatest extent. On the other hand, Paul's mentality has also been greatly affected, and when facing Alvarado's defense, Paul received technical fouls and first-degree malicious fouls, which many defenders have not been able to do.
In addition to the defensive end, Alvarado's offensive performance in this series has also given the Pelicans a lot of help in many cases. According to statistics, in 6 games, Alvarado averaged 8 points and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 48.5% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range. Among them, in the third quarter he scored nine consecutive points in the last quarter, and in the fifth and sixth games, he scored double digits. Although the Pelicans were eventually eliminated from the game in a 2-4 defeat to the Suns, Alvarado was enough to be called a defeat.
In an interview after the game, Alvarado was also in tears, saying he was very grateful to the city. When the Pelicans played at home, home fans chanted Alvarado's name, which is a great affirmation for a lost draft. In this year's draft, the Pelicans offered the losing team a two-way contract, and with his active defense, Alvarado also officially signed a four-year, $6.5 million contract with the Pelicans this season. Despite the low salary, it was already very difficult for him to get this long-term contract.
Although the first round of this season is out, the Pelicans have given hope to many fans, and the main players of the team, including Ingram, have praised Alvarado, and his active scrambling has injected a lot of energy into the team. In the coming seasons, it is foreseeable that he will be used more by the team, and if he can maintain his current form, then he will also receive a valuable contract in the future.