On April 23, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, the Western Side of the Suns played and the Pelicans' third game, Booker missed the Suns in the first quarter suffered a tough impact from the Pelicans, once behind. In the second quarter of the game, there was a scene of hot conflict, Pelicans forward Hayes pushed down Crowder in the process of grabbing a rebound, the latter fell to the ground very angry, wanted to fight Hayes, and also sprayed garbage with pelicans home fans, but was stopped by teammates and referees.
Subsequently, after review, the referee determined that Hayes's deliberate pushing was a second-degree malicious foul, directly expelled Hayes from the field, and then gave a technical foul based on Claude's subsequent response. The referee's timely judgment did not worsen the development of the incident.
It is worth noting that the expelled Hayes was not very angry, but instead interacted with the home fans with a "victory" gesture in the process of walking back to the dressing room, apparently Hayes knew that his behavior was a malicious foul, just to provoke Crowder.
Unfortunately, Hayes's move did not have a good impact on the Pelicans, and after his expulsion, the Suns' offensive did not stop, and through a tough defense, it continued to play a defensive counterattack, and the point difference began to exceed double digits. With Booker injured and saying goodbye to the series, the Pelicans are actually black nines possible, and the Suns' advantage is not that great.
In the third quarter of the game, the Pelicans began to catch up with the score, McCollum and Ingram hit consecutive shots, began to show the true color of the mid-range killer, and the Suns were difficult to respond to because of the lack of Booker. To this end, the Sun and pelicans this round of the series will have great uncertainty, the loss of Booker will have too much impact on the Suns, whether they can cross the Pelicans level, need the efforts of the Suns team!
In the whole process of the conflict, the Sun veteran Paul is the most calm one, when Hayes pushed down Claude, Paul, who saw all the incident passed, immediately rushed to the referee to report the complaint, and made the most favorable choice for the team under the rules in an instant, Paul perfectly showed the moment of the high ball dealer!
(Lin Xiaoxiang)