On May 3, Beijing time, today, the NBA semifinals continue, and the Lone Ranger challenges the Suns away. In the first quarter, the Suns showed their league number one strength, and they led their opponents by 10 points at 35-25. Entering the second quarter, Booker and Ayton continued to play, before the end of the midfield, Ayton hit the middle distance, and at the end of the half, the Suns took advantage of the chase to extend the point difference to 13 points, the score was 69-56, and Doncic scored 26 points at halftime. The two teams fought back and forth in the first 8 minutes, with the Suns leading the Lone Rangers by 15 points at 90-75, and the game was suspended.
Timeout back, Payne received a Bridges pass to press the whistle three-pointer, the Lone Ranger side, Finney Smith three-point shot, Booker shot also hit iron, however, the Lone Ranger soon appeared offensive 24 seconds violation, the Suns Penn threw the shot, Doncic assisted Dinwiddie three points and an arrow through the heart, however, Bridges immediately returned a bottom corner three-pointer, Doncic is to create a foul 2 free throws 1, the two sides you come and go, the end of the third quarter, the Suns 96-79 lead the Lone Ranger 17 points, Ayton three quarters 25 points and 5 rebounds, Doncic had 32 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
In the final quarter, Johnson came up to hit the middle distance, Kleber broke 2 points to stop the bleeding, Bridges and Brunson also scored in succession, but Bridges became more and more courageous, grabbed offensive rebounds, and the basket was won again, and the game was suspended. The timeout came back, Johnson dunked first to take 2 points, followed by McGee stealing a dragon dunk and then advancing, Brunson was not willing to show weakness, the mid-range was also colored, Finney Smith also shot a cold-blooded three-pointer, and the Suns were suspended. After the timeout, the two teams continued to play iron on the offensive end, and Doncic broke through the dunk to break the scoring drought.
In the last 5 and a half minutes, Paul's three-point splash was rippled, Brunson forced the basket to miss, but Finney Smith made up the basket, and soon, Doncic's three-point step through Yang, but immediately Paul hit a difficult 2-pointer, and the game was suspended. In the decisive moment, Paul made two free throws, Brunson teamed up with Dinwiddie to score 4 points, the two sides came and went, and finally the Suns defeated the Lone Ranger 121-114 to win the semi-finals. In this game, Ayton was in good shape, he shot 25 points and 8 rebounds on 12 of 20, and Booker made 7 of 20, contributing 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists.
Paul hit a milestone with 7-of-13 dribbling 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, surpassing Tony Parker in total career playoff assists for 5th all-time; Bridges had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists; Crowder had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Johnson had 17 points and five rebounds; Payne had nine points, three rebounds and five assists. On the Lone Ranger side, Doncic made 15 of 30, scoring 45 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists, but made five turnovers. Kleber had 19 points; Brunson had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists; Bullock had 7 points and 6 rebounds; Finney Smith had 15 points and 6 rebounds; and Dinwiddie had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
This game can be seen that the strength of the Lone Ranger and the Suns are still a bit of a gap, the Suns can play more people, more stars, the defense is better, the Lone Ranger side, only Doncic has one star, it is difficult to pose a threat to the Suns. When Booker returned, Paul played more successfully and under pressure, and the Suns saw the threshold of the Western Conference Finals in advance.