Despite the absence of the All-Star scorer and Devin Booker, the Phoenix Suns secured a 114-111 road victory over New Orleans on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round match. Suns’ guard and future Hall of Fame member Chris Paul was just phenomenal, scoring 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter to repel the annoying Pelicans while making 14 assists.
Deandre Ayton was a beast inside, scoring 28 points and 17 rebounds to continue with three stolen balls and a block, while Michal Bridges added 17 points and made a 9-for-9 from the free throw line, making some of them down. The Pelicans were led by 34 points and seven rebounds by Brandon Ingram, while his teammate CJ McCollum added 30 points and seven assists.
Game 4 will take place on Sunday in New Orleans, but before we get to that, let’s look at four key findings from Game 3, followed by a summary of our live updates from the evening.
1. CP4th
After three quarters, Paul had nine points and was largely trying to tune his teammates while remaining within attack. When the fourth quarter came and the game was close, Paul started working the way only he could. With the Suns one point behind six minutes before the end of the game, Paul made four consecutive mid-range jumpers to give his team a five-point lead.
Paul created this by passing the ball to teammates (mostly Ayton) for most of the game. During the crisis, he used the extra pillow to get to his seats and make jumpers, which were essentially his layups at this point in his career.
“During this fourth quarter, [Ayton] told me during the timeout, he said, ‘C, I’ll let you go. “Shoot the ball,” Paul said after the game. “Being honest is very important to our team because we need him and we trust him.”
In addition to his mid-range magic, Paul also knocked down his four free throws as the Pelicans played a last-minute foul to ensure there was no chance of a comeback. After Booker was out of the squad, Paul knew he had to continue working as a goal scorer, and he did brilliantly.
2. Ball for a hooligan
In the regular season, the Suns were second in the league with 16.2 attempts to strike from the mid-range, according to NBA.com. It makes sense, as these are often the shots that the defense lures attackers, and Phoenix has two of the best middle-class scorers in the league with Booker and Paul. The Suns changed their plan to play Booker on Friday night, avoiding middle-class jumpers in favor of a good, old-fashioned hooligan ball.
Phoenix beat Pelicans 64-40 in combat and, with the exception of Paul, tried just four midfield shots throughout the game, making three of them. The rest came from inside the key or behind the 3-point line.
Ayton was a monster inside, connecting with everything from dunks to jumps on the road to his playoff career with 28 points.
Ayton was also not the only Suns center to do damage. JaVale McGee was the main offensive threat from the bench, scoring 15 points in 7 of 8 shots, all of which went into the paint, as you might expect. The Suns managed to win, although they only made four 3 points a night, which is difficult to do in the modern NBA unless you absolutely dominate the fight.
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3. The stars disappear for New Orleans
Ingram was phenomenal on Friday, especially in the third quarter, but there was a stretch towards the end of the game when he was noticeably absent. Ingram registered at 6:32 in the fourth quarter and made only one attempt to hit – he knocked down a jump with his elbow – as Paul and Suns scored a nine-point lead with less than a minute to go. Ingram scored nine points in the last 49 seconds, but these were desperate blows as the game was already out of range.
During this crucial moment, when Ingram had only one attempt to strike, Jose Alvarado missed a hard pass and Larry Nance Jr. missed two threes. Laying McCollum with 1:55 left was his first attempt to strike after 7:53. Both Alvarado and Nance were great for the Pelicans, but the Pelicans just had to find a way to get their two best chances for goal scorers and playmakers. Instead, they failed to stop the tide, and Chris Paul’s machine sent them home at a loss.
4. Temperament erupts
The great Pelicans player Jaxson Hayes and the Suns striker Jae Crowder walked back and forth with some nonsense at the beginning of the match and things boiled down to just over five minutes until halftime. As Crowder prepared to leave after a bounce, Hayes crashed from the perimeter, delivering a rather vicious thud to Crowder’s back. After a review, Hayes was rated outright 2 and was sent off.
Hayes was decisive for Pelicans at both ends of the season, so it is impossible to say how much his absence affected the outcome of the match. It will also be interesting to see how Hayes and Crowder interact for the rest of the series.
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