Zion Williamson still recovering, the Pelicans also had to do without Brandon Ingram, hit in the hip, for this trip to Phoenix, and we logically did not give much of their skin among the finalists.
Except that the start of the game for the Suns, deprived of their side of Deandre Ayton (affected in the leg) was catastrophic, with a wagon of stray balls and a lead that even reached twenty points in the second quarter. It took all the defensive energy of Mikal Bridges, the good passages off the bench from Frank Kaminsky and finally the mastery of Chris Paul to return to the score and allow Phoenix to win (112-100).
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– A duo Chris Paul – Devin Booker upside down at the start of the match. Is this the aftermath of their superb run last year? In any case, it is not bright in Phoenix at the start of the season and the start of the game was awful. The backcourt Paul / Booker lost a lot of balls (8) in the first half, while the defensive pressure from New Orleans was not crazy. What feed Pelicans yet deprived of their two All-Stars and find themselves led by 20 points while Jonas Valanciunas took advantage of the absence of Deandre Ayton to dominate under the circle. It was so ugly that the Footprint Center hinted at hoots…
– Pelicans in the dark. The problem for Willie Green and his players is that without Brandon Ingram or Zion Williamson, this team doesn’t really have a backbone, or even a conductor, to put the game down. Badly, the awakening of the “role players” of Arizona and the control of Chris Paul at the end of the match did not find resistance capable of avoiding the furious return of Phoenix.
– CP3 was able to put his head back. It is characteristic of great players to have a “short memory” and Chris Paul is definitely a great player. After a failed first half, like his team, the leader began to exploit the flaws in the Pelicans’ defense, before delivering a “clinic” in the fourth quarter to ensure the victory of his people . 14 points at 5/5 in the final period, and 18 assists in total to reverse the course of the meeting and go even further into the history books.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Mikal Bridges. He finished with 22 points, but the rest of his stat line does not show that he was the one who sounded the revolt when things were going badly for the Suns. Setting the tone in defense, he “saved” a lot of possessions in attack and allowed Phoenix to move forward to make his comeback.
✅ Frank Kaminsky. He had so far only played a few minutes in the spanking received in Portland. But as the boat took on the water, Monty Williams threw it in to try and bail out the offensive problems a bit and it worked. The former Wisconsin brought his touch and was energetic to undermine the defensive covers of the Pelicans, who never managed to get in the way.
⛔ Defense in the Pelican axis. Devonte ‘Graham and Nickeil Alexander-Walker drenched a lot (4/16 away overall) but the Pelicans’ main problem in the second half was their inability to control the axis against the science of Chris Paul. The point guard was able to serve JaVale McGee and Frank Kaminsky far too easily near the circle, or get his shots halfway to regain control of the game.
CHRIS PAUL, 3RD BEST PASTOR IN HISTORY
The Phoenix point guard only needed 8 assists to make it into the Top 3 in history, overtaking Mark Jackson and Steve Nash. He finally made 18 (!) To climb onto the podium brilliantly.
Chris Paul now has 10,346 career assists (in the regular season) and only John Stockton (15,806) and Jason Kidd (12,091) are now ahead of him in the standings. With his 14 points in the evening, he also grabbed a place (45th) in the ranking of the best scorers, overtaking Tom Chambers with 20,056 points.
THE FOLLOWING
Phoenix (3-3) : the Suns have the opportunity to continue with the reception of the young Rockets, Thursday evening (3:00).
New Orleans (1-7) : the Pelicans are playing again next night at the Kings (3:00 am).
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