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NBA playoffs, monstrous Booker scores 40 points and goes triple-double: race-1 is from Phoenix

PHOENIX SUNS-L.A. CLIPPERS | THE TABLE

Frantic pace at the start of race-1, with the two teams starting very strong. At the Clippers home Paul George (designated leader, given Leonard’s absence, replaced in the five da Nicolas batum) is immediately aggressive, takes three shots and scores two, just like he does Deandre Ayton on the other hand, with Cameron Payne (in the quintet instead of Chris Paul) who pushes every possession trying to keep the pace high. Well 12 of the Clippers’ first 19 points are from Paul George, certainly “inside” the race right from the start. THE first changes see Patrick Beverley and Ivica Zubac on the pitch for LA, E’twaun Moore replacing Payne in directing. Your hands get a little cold in the last minutes of the first quarter but the game continues to be in Balance, balance confirmed by the score after the first twelve minutes: 21-21. The first minutes of the second quarter also see the field DeMarcus Cousins, who places a powerful dunk on the first ball and then gains two more in the center of the area, to immediately sign up for the scoresheet. Phoenix tries a small extension (to +5), but it always is Cousins to play by protagonist: the 7-0 of partial he sees another 5 points from the center – already at 11 – and then LA also finds the advantage. The Suns respond like champions: 10-0 the hosts’ counterbreak, led above all by a Ayton already in double digits. For him there are 14 points at the end of the first half (with 7/8 shot), with Booker a quota 11, including the basket that sends the two teams at half-time with i Suns three points ahead, 57-54, despite an excellent Paul George by 17 points and author of 3 of the Clippers’ 8 triples, which closed with over 44% from the arc the first half but they grant 56% from the field to the Suns.

The story of the second half

Coach Tyronn Lue starts the second half with Zubac in the field (and the Croatian replies with 6 immediate points) but it still is Phoenix which continues to do head race, with 5 baskets scored by each of the 5 players on the field to open the second half and reach 74-68. Paul George, however, does not fit: he loads LA on his shoulders, he hits the target three triples in a row, one adds Reggie Jackson and the guests return to the front of one (79-78), in a match that is always balanced and intense. Jackson again, in the fourth triple of the evening (out of 8 attempts) he forces coach Williams to time-out because the Clippers go up +6 (84-78), closing a 16-4 run. The reaction of the Arizona team bears the signature of one space Devin Booker: are his 16 consecutive points of the Phoenix Suns (with 6 baskets from the field), a break from the game as an authentic champion that already leads him to quota 29 but above all he pushes his team back in front, 90-88. At 29 from Booker he replies George with a triple of his 32 points than at the end of the third quarter sets the score at 93-93, in a race-1 that needs the last 12 minutes to make up its mind. Booker has not finished yet: George drew at 32 in a truly spectacular direct match, with the first triple of the last period followed by two more points in suspension (34), which launches the partial 12-2 at the opening of the fourth period that sends Phoenix sul +10. Booker is in control (centers the triple double even before the final sprint), Ayton is felt under the basket, but the points that seem to decide game-1 puts them Mikal Bridges, with two almost consecutive dunks and a triple that two minutes from the end seem to break the legs of the Clippers for good. It is not so. Rondo region he is the last to surrender: with 70 seconds left he brings LA back to -5 and a triple of Terance Mann 22 seconds from the end is -2, 116-114. The last effort then still carries Booker’s signature: a dunk and two free to seal an extraordinary match: 40 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, fundamental for the 1-0 point of his Suns. Coach Williams finds reasons to smile even in a Cam Payne gives 9 assists and a single turnover and from a Ayton increasingly mature (misses only 4 shots, scores 20 points and captures 9 rebounds). Phoenix shoots over 55% from the field and 40% from three, LA responds by scoring 20 triples (with almost 43%) but they only have three players in double digits, against six of the Suns, who are now hoping to have good news from Chris Paul ahead of Game-2.

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