The king is out, the Pelicans Five Tigers 71+29, 2 miracle soldiers have made meritorious contributions, and the warriors must recognize the reality!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
On April 20, Beijing time, the first round of the NBA play-offs has been played, and the second round ushered in the western focus battle. The New Orleans Pelicans are at home against the Sacramento Kings. The Pelicans are in 7th place in the West with a 49-33 record, while the Kings are in 9th place in the West with a 46-36 record. This will be the fifth meeting between the two sides this season (including a midseason game), and the Pelicans have won all five of the first five meetings, which can be described as an absolute crushing advantage. Before the game, the well-known American media ESPN also gave a timely prediction of the winning rate: the Pelicans have a winning rate of 62.4%, and the Kings have a 37.6% winning rate.
After the regrettable loss to the Lakers in the last game, it was a very big blow to the morale of the Pelicans, in addition to missing the direct qualification for the playoffs, what is even more tragic is that the team's true core Zion unexpectedly retired with an injury in the crucial fourth quarter of the game. And, according to a report by ESPN's Woj, medical expert Jeffries revealed that Zion is likely to have a serious second-degree strain, and he may need to be out of action for 3-6 weeks. Obviously, this news is too unfortunate for the Pelicans, the last game against the Lakers, the Pelicans relied on Zion's 40-point strong play to support the end, and now, even if the Pelicans finally make the playoffs, Zion basically missed the first round.
The Kings are also sympathetic, in the closing stages of the regular season, the team's three-point shooter Huerter and the best sixth man Monk suffered injuries one after another, and were almost ruled out for the season, so the Kings fell from the top six in the West to the bottom half of the play-offs, and needed to win two games in a row to have a chance to advance to the playoffs. And now, when they meet the nemesis Pelicans last season, the Kings are also ill-fated.
In terms of injuries, the Pelicans' Zion is absent, and the starting five are: CJ McCollum, Jones, Ingram, Murphy III, Valanciunas, and the Kings' Huerter and Monk are absent, and the starting lineup is: Daron Fox, Keane Ellis, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Valanciunas singled Sabonis in the low post and scored a hook to give the Pelicans the first place, and Sabonis Jr. then responded with a steal and a two-handed dunk. Ingram was unguarded at the top of the arc, hit an open 3-pointer, and Sa broke through with the ball, took off after passing Valanciunas, and contributed a two-handed dunk again. Varland missed consecutive layups, and Fox burst out to help the Kings hit a 9-2 offensive climax and directly stopped the Pelicans. After a timeout, Murphy jumped from the free throw line to dunk Sa Jr., causing the latter to make a second foul, and then assisted Nance on a one-arm dunk, and the Pelicans led the Kings by two points at 24-22 after the first quarter.
Come back in the second quarter, Ingram counterattacked, long pass Marshall completed a one-arm dunk, and then Ingram and Murphy assisted Nance to complete the basket dunk, the Pelicans played a 12-2 offensive climax, and then Marshall received the ball in the bottom corner, hit a three-point shot, and then steal Keegan Murray, and quickly dunked, and the Pelicans have led the Kings by as many as 12 points. Fox and Marshall pushed each other as they grabbed the position, and the two sides almost clashed, and the angry Fox hit two three-pointers in quick succession, and the Kings still trailed by nine points at 45-54 at the end of the first half.
Fox finished with 18 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 steals on 7-of-13 shooting in the first half, Sabonis had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, Ingram shot 4-of-10 from the field and 1-of-1 from three-point range, contributing 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, and Murphy had 8 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal. It is worth mentioning that the two teams scored off the bench, and the Pelicans led the Kings 21-4.
In the rematch, Ingram singled Keegan Murray with his back, hit a difficult turnover jumper, and added free throws, and then McCollum and Jones hit two three-pointers in a row, and the Pelicans had a lead of 14 points, directly stopping the Kings. After the pause, Murphy assisted Varland to complete a one-arm split, and then cut the ball directly with both hands, Keegan Murray grabbed Ingram behind his back, passed the ball in the counterattack Fox hit a three-point shot, stopped the bleeding in time, Nance hit a strong Barnes basket and hit the board, and then the air cut completed the one-arm split, Ingram singled Fox and also scored, and after the third quarter, the Pelicans still led by 9 points into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, after Da Varan blocked Barnes, he made a long pass to Alvarado, and scored a layup with the ball on the counterattack. Xiao Saqiang beat Varan to make it 2+1, and in the next round, Varan hit Varan to respond to Shaw 2+1. After Ingram hit a buzzer-beating shot, he made another foul on Xiaosa, and as Alvarado fell into the net with a three-pointer at the top of the arc, the Pelicans played a wave of 10-0 climax, already leading the Kings by 20 points, and the game was no longer suspenseful, and finally the Pelicans defeated the Kings 105-98.
In the end, in the absence of Zion, the Pelicans and the two wonders of Marshall and Nance stepped up to help the team beat the Kings six times this season and successfully advance to the playoffs, where they will face the Thunder, the top of the Western Conference, in the first round. I have to say that the Warriors and Kerr really can't be stubborn anymore, they have to recognize the situation, look at the Pelicans' hard work and employment tactics after the lack of core, give enough trust to the newcomers, and finally defeat the King smoothly, the Warriors can no longer be conservative.
In terms of statistics, on the Pelicans' side, Ingram scored 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Valanciunas contributed 19 points and 12 rebounds, Murphy 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, McCollum 7 points, the starting five Tigers roared 71 points and 29 rebounds, the bench made 2 surprise contributions, Nance shot 6 of 7, cut 13 points and 2 steals, and Marshall 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. On the Kings' side, Fox scored a game-high 35 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, Sabonis contributed 23 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals, Barnes scored 17 points, and Keegan Murray had a sluggish performance with only 11 points and 6 rebounds.