In today's playoffs, the Bucks and Suns made their debuts since the lack of core players, and both won without deepening the suspense of the series. After the lack of core main force, the two teams responded in completely different ways, either attacking the enemy's shortcomings or promoting their own strengths, but in the end they had the same destination.
In Series G2, the Suns lost Booker and the Bucks lost Middleton. It seems that God wants to go against people, adding some suspense in the series that is considered the most one-sided in the two groups in the East and West Regions. And in the absence of the two stars, the unsuspecting Suns and Bucks were both sneaked by the opponent, forcing them to become 1-1, and the 4-0 sweep became a lie. The wind direction of the media and fans also changed immediately, and for a time "lower gram" and "black eight" became hot words.
However, it is precisely in this situation that it can be shown that there are naturally reasons why a strong team has become a strong team. Today, both the Bucks and the Suns have triumphed. The former wins big, the latter wins, in different ways and in very different styles.
The Bucks and Bulls' G3, the Bulls have fallen behind by 31 points in the first three quarters of the battle, the largest point difference in the first three quarters of the single playoffs in the history of the team, and the Windy City is full of wind. One scene shows how relaxed the Bucks are: in the fourth quarter, even the "Alphabet Brother" staged a good deduction.
The Bucks were not affected by Middleton's injury, but won a big victory, first of all because they took the initiative to change. Before this game, Bucks coach Budenholzer never mentioned who replaced Middleton to start, and only after the opening did everyone realize that the Bucks had lined up the "three highs" and turned Portis, who was also on the lottery in the previous game, to start first. At the same time, for DeRozan, who last shot 41 points, the Bucks also posed an iron barrel formation.
The bucks are based on the study of bulls. In this season's regular season, although the Bulls' three-point shooting rate is high in the league, the average number of shots per game is at the bottom of the league, and the average number of shots per game is also the second to last, which can be regarded as the weakest team in the league. The Bulls excel at the interior offense (although averaging 19th in the league, 10th in the league in the three-second zone). In addition, in the 10m to three-point line area under the basket, the Bulls also have the top three shots in the league, which is mainly from DeRozan.
Therefore, the Bucks focus on this point of force. The penalty area, guarded by Alphabet Brother, Portis and Brooke-Lopez's "three highs", is arguably the league's most impregnable interior line; at the same time, in Middleton's absence, the Bucks are determined to use the bag clip against DeRozan, which makes DeRozan hesitate this game, completely unlike the last killing decision.
The passage to the inside line was blocked, the fire point of DeRozan was also snuffed out, and the bulls were unable to cope. Vucevic had 3 of 9 three-pointers in the game, but the big pull space could occasionally be done, but he couldn't be consistent throughout the game, and Lavin and Corby White combined to score only 21 points on 8 of 22, and they couldn't share DeRozan's worries. Throughout the field, the bucks' firepower is not too fierce, but the bull's firepower has weakened a lot, so a big victory is inevitable.
Unlike the Bucks, who anticipated the enemy first and strangled the opponent's life goal, the Suns played a famous game by relying on the remaining 2 stars of the team in the absence of a number of problems to be solved.
These 2 men are naturally Ayton in the first half and Paul in the fourth quarter. In the first half, Ayton had 21 points and seven rebounds, and in the fourth quarter, Paul scored 19 points to turn the tide. Before the game, Dream Green had said that after Booker's injury, the two most outstanding players in this series were in the Pelicans. Maybe after watching this scene, his words can be taken back. Ingram and McCollum combined to score 64 points, beating Paul + Ayton, but didn't laugh to the end.
After 3 games, the Suns grabbed no more rebounds per game, and the three-point shot was not accurate, and the suns handed over an outrageous three-point performance of 4 of 26 in rebounds. But the stars are fighting, and the sun without Booker still does not set. Listen to sun coach Monty Williams after this game. Speaking about Paul's 19-point performance in the final quarter, he quipped: "I would love to tell you that everything is based on my tactical design, but in fact it is all CP3's personal ability." ”
Although the Pelicans had the advantage in rebounding in this game, they suffered losses in rebounding at the key moment. More than 2 minutes before the finale, the Suns, who were leading by 5 points, made two unsuccessful three-point attempts, but grabbed two offensive rebounds, and then Crowder received Paul's assist and scored 2 points, widening the point difference to 7 points in 2 minutes and 08 seconds. In the next minute, McCollum and Paul won back-to-back, and the game went into the stage of using foul tactics. Looking back at the game, these 2 offensive rebounds are as precious as gold to the Sun.
In addition, one of the intriguing episodes of this game is that Jaxon Hayes was sentenced to a second-degree malicious foul in the second quarter and directly expelled from the game. In the Pelicans, Hayes is not a leading figure, but his impact and fighting strength are irreplaceable. In addition, he can cut in without the ball, can assist in defense (and even changed to defend Paul's middle distance before), and is an arrow figure in the transition between attack and defense.
Of course, Booker and Middleton are irreplaceable. The side that lacks the core main force in G3 responded, and then it was the turn of the G4 side that could not be retreated. In contrast, the Pelicans and Suns played to the final moment, the bonus to the Pelicans' confidence was greater, and the Bulls had to heal and regain their confidence first; but then again, the Bulls had more room to improve, and the Pelicans could not guarantee that the Suns would lose in three points and rebounds in four consecutive games.
Can the Bulls and Pelicans push their formidable opponents to the point where they begin to miss the missing core main force? See. (Supine Braces/Hairy)