The Suns lost 105-113 to the Pelicans at home, and the sixth place in the West was a bit precarious, but the Lakers sent a big gift a few hours later, James missed due to a cold, and the Lakers lost 117-127 to the Timberwolves, breaking the rhythm of the sixth.
The world is unpredictable, the road to the sixth, the Suns actually want to thank the Lakers, not only gave the opportunity, but the Lakers did not seize it, but also related to the next game. The Lakers' last game was against the Pelicans, and they had to be knocked to the death, which was equivalent to clearing the last obstacle for the Suns to protect the game.
The battle for the western rankings has entered the final madness, and the wind is surging, and every day is destroying the suspense, and a new suspense is born.
The dust settled on the battle for a play-off spot, and the Rockets buried the theoretical suspense before the Warriors and Jazz split the victory, they led the Mavericks by as many as 22 points, with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Rockets led by 2 points, VanVleet made two free throws, one of two, and Irving's three-point miss gave the Rockets another chance to seal the win, with 8.1 seconds left, Rockets forward Jabari Smith got two free throws again, and only one free throw was needed to win, he missed two free throws.
It's like a reflection of the Rockets' whole season, they are young, they are talented, they are full of momentum, but they are also young, they have hopes, but they have fallen short.
A last-minute three-pointer from Mavericks guard Axham sent the game into overtime, and the Rockets held their breath all season, losing 136-147 to the Mavericks in overtime.
Unlike the Rockets, the Warriors have their fate firmly in their own hands. The Rockets' loss to the Mavericks was just a surprise, and a 118-110 win over the Jazz was the right pattern for the Warriors to defend their game.
The West is in the dark as to who will be sixth and on the final train straight to the playoffs.
As of April 8, the Suns and Pelicans are both 46-32, the Suns are 3-1 in the regular season Pelicans, temporarily in sixth place, the Pelicans are seventh, and the Kings are 45-33, eighth in the West.
In the last four games, the Suns played the Clippers and the Kings and Timberwolves twice, the Pelicans' opponents were the Trail Blazers, Kings, Warriors, and Lakers, and the Kings' opponents were the Thunder, Pelicans, Suns, and Trail Blazers. It won't be so easy for the Suns to win two over the Clippers. If they lose one of them, the race for sixth place in the West will be in full swing. The Suns aren't worried about the Kings because they have to face the Kings and can take their fate into their own hands, but if they want to hold the Pelicans down, they'll have to count on the Lakers to help.
The Suns had almost choked fate by the throat before, and from March 28 to April 15, their last ten games were seen as devil's schedules, all of which were teams with a win rate of more than 50%, with the Suns winning the Nuggets first and then the Thunder. On April 2, the Suns beat the Pelicans, which Booker called a new beginning, and then they beat the Cavaliers and Timberwolves in a row to make the Devils' schedule a sweet schedule.
Then, they met up with the Pelicans again.
On January 20, the Suns and Pelicans met for the first time this season, Booker scored 52 points on 18-of-30 shooting, and the Suns won by 14 points, and on April 2, the two sides met for the second time, Booker shot 19-of-28 and scored 52 points again, and the Suns won by 13 points.
But one can not be three, the third meeting, Booker finally lost his mind, he only made 16 shots, 0 of 6 three-pointers, and scored 25 points. The Pelicans entered playoff mode earlier than the Suns, and they were constantly pinching and disrupting to keep Booker from receiving the ball easily, and the Suns weren't prepared. With 1:13 left in the third quarter, Booker and Pelicans guard Daniels pushed and shoved and each received a technical foul.
For the Suns to keep the top six in the West and go further in the playoffs, Booker's limitation cannot be a reason to lose.
Judging from the data, the performance of the Suns' Big Three is what they want to see, with Durant scoring 23 points, Booker scoring 25 points, Beal breaking out and scoring 33 points, and the Big Three combined for 57 shots and 81 points together. When Booker was restrained, Bill stepped up just in time. Beal has averaged just 12.4 points per game in his last 10 games, and this time he shot 7-of-8 from beyond the three-point line and nearly helped the Suns turn around in the second half.
It's unrealistic for the Big Three to get high scores at the same time. In the matchup on April 2, Booker scored 52 points, Beal scored only 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and the Big Three combined only 85 points, four more than this one.
Why did the Suns still lose? Because the key to victory or defeat lies outside the Big Three. They lost to the Pelicans for two reasons.
First, the performance of role players is sluggish.
Royce O'Neal, Gordon, Eubanks and Bol played more than 50 minutes and scored just seven points. The Suns didn't point at them to explode, but the four bench players shot a total of 3-of-10, and the pressure was all on the Big Three. Allen, who had been a good performer before, scored 13 points, but he shot 3-of-10 from three-point range, and he shot 43.8% from three-point range in the nine games he played before.
This raises the question, if this is a playoff-level matchup, will the Suns' players outside the Big Three have the ability to play high-end games?
Second, the Sun's interior line completely collapsed.
The Pelicans came prepared, learning from their previous game and allowing Valanciunas to play less than four minutes. That's because Varan is too slow to keep up with pick-and-rolls, and his rim-guarding ability is worthless against the Suns' pitchers. The Pelicans use Zion to play center, and Nance Jr. to speed up. Zion expanded directly to the three-point line in the fourth quarter, defending Beal alone, and his feet didn't fall at all.
This makes the sun particularly hard. Facing the Pelicans' small lineup, the Suns are in a dilemma. What was once a problem for the Pelicans became a problem for the Suns, and Nurkic couldn't keep up with the Pelicans' pick-and-roll. He had 19 points and 19 rebounds in his previous game against the Pelicans, but in this game, he played 31 minutes, shooting 2-of-7, finishing with six points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five fouls.
Replacing Nurkic with Eubanks and Bol is just a change of soup and not a change of medicine. In the face of the impact of a small lineup, they are also struggling.
The Suns' embarrassment is that they can't play a small lineup. O'Neal, who was traded halfway, is only 1.98 meters tall and can't play as a center forward. If Nurkic, Eubanks and Bol are not played, they can only let Durant and O'Neal play inside, which is equivalent to not being able to protect the basket. In this game against the Pelicans, Zion scored 12 points in the final nine minutes, and with his size, once he rushed into the restricted area, he faced the Suns' small lineup to demand.
The small lineup still needs to have enough impact on the outside, but the four guards of Booker, Beal, Allen and Gordon have to fight with the young guards, which is really difficult. In the face of McCollum and the "old six" Alvarado's frequent cuts, the Suns' outside players couldn't keep up at all.
Next, the sun will be in trouble.
If they keep six, they will likely face the Thunder in the first round of the playoffs, and they have played three games against the Thunder in the regular season, losing all of them. The trick used by the Thunder is a small lineup. On March 30, the final matchup of the regular season between the two sides, Nurkic was completely negative on the court, playing 23 minutes and scoring only six points, while the Suns lost by 22 points in that period. The Thunder relied on the impact of young players to bring down the Suns.
If they finish seventh, their first-round opponent is likely to be the Timberwolves, and there is a lot of hope. With or without Towns, the Timberwolves are difficult to play with a small lineup and can't improve their speed, which makes the Suns players like fish in water, and the Suns won the first two meetings in the regular season. If you want to go to seventh, you have to play the play-offs, not only can you no longer point to the Lakers to help, but you will also be hit head-on by the Lakers, after all, the worst result is likely to evolve into the Suns in the play-offs to play the Lakers first, and then the Warriors, which is more terrible than the devil's schedule.
Don't think too much, since the Lakers are not used for the opportunity, the Suns should still keep the sixth place in the West.