On April 23, Beijing time, the third game of the playoffs between the Suns and pelicans was held as scheduled, and this round of the series should have been the most suspenseful game in the first round of the series, after all, the Suns with the first record in the league are not comparable to the Pelicans, but with Booker's injury, the suspense of this series is directly full. Previously, the Suns lost one of the games at home, which also made the Suns who came to the away game hope to find their home advantage, so the Suns players led by Paul all wanted to contribute to the team in this game.
The overly intense game made the players on both sides full of gunpowder, and the Pelicans' Hayes directly and maliciously pushed the Sun's Crowder down in one round, which also led to a very fierce conflict on the field. This was supposed to be a normal physical encounter, but we can see that Hayes clearly deliberately pushed Claude to the ground with a deliberate force, and Claude also got up in an instant and directly found Hayes hoping to theorize. The players on both sides had a fierce conflict in this situation, and at the same time I don't know if you noticed such a detail.
That is, when the players on both sides are fighting or arguing, only Paul actually ran to the side of the bottom line referee at this time and has been complaining loudly for Crowder, which is a way of putting pressure on the referee and Paul's shrewdness as a thirty-something veteran. While a grumpy player like Claude finds the opponent's theory after being pushed down, Paul observes that the format of the game has found a better solution, that is, to find a referee to put pressure on the opponent, and to put more pressure on the opponent through the referee.
The end result of this conflict is that Hayes was expelled for maliciously pushing Claude directly into a second-degree malicious foul, while Crowder was also punished for a technical foul for provoking a conflict on the field. Many fans are more surprised by this decision, because although there are obvious restrictions on this malicious foul in the NBA, Hayes's action did not cause too much damage to Crowder, and it is very strange to be directly expelled from the game in this case, and many people did not expect this.
From here, it can be seen that Paul is shrewd in this round, because Hayes was directly expelled from the game with Paul's great credit, and it is precisely because Paul constantly pressures the referee, which leads to the referee being forced to make more difficult decisions. At the same time, this is also because Hayes and Claude have further conflicts, since Claude also received a technical foul, Hayes should also have one more technical foul, plus a previous malicious foul, which is enough for Hayes to be directly expelled.
This may be the embodiment of Paul's high ball quotient, many people have difficulty understanding why a 1 meter 83 player can be hailed as a point guard god for so many years, why this player has not declined too obviously for so many years, and why at this age can still lead the Suns to the Finals. The level of the ball quotient is also a place where the ability of a player is strong, perhaps Paul is still inferior to the team boss Booker in terms of hard power, but the Suns can play such a good performance in the past two years.
I don't know if you have any other views and opinions on this matter? Feel free to share your views and comments below.