At home against the Hawks, the Suns, who lacked Ayton, played very hard, and at the end of the third quarter, they were consecutively hit by their opponents, and then entered the fourth quarter with a 12-point difference, but in the end, the Suns reversed the game with a wave of 35-19 in the fourth quarter and won four consecutive wins.
From the data point of view, this game cut 38 points of Devin Booker is undoubtedly the number one contributor to the Suns' victory, in the 34 minutes of playing time, Booker's play this game is indeed very good, he shot 14 of 21, 9 of 5 outside the three-point line, extremely efficient, 38 points is also a new high score in Booker's season, in the case of a slight downturn since the beginning of the game, Booker finally played his due performance.
However, if you've watched the game, you know that Booker wasn't the biggest contributor to the Suns' comeback in the final quarter, and that biggest contributor is still Chris Paul.
Due to the third quarter of 12 points behind, Paul was replaced early in the fourth quarter, his play also completely changed the situation, when the Suns were still behind with a 12-point difference, Paul came up and then used 2 consecutive shots and 1 three-point force to close the score, and then Paul assisted his teammates many times to complete the score, driven by Paul, the Suns gradually erased the point difference and overtake, in the final moments of the game, the Eagles who were behind by 3 points adopted a foul tactic, but unfortunately they could only foul Paul, the latter 4 shots 3, of which the first 3 were all in, Completely kill the suspense of the game.
Throughout the fourth quarter, Paul staged a textbook performance of a good point guard, he played 10 minutes, scored 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting and delivered five assists, and the plus-minus reached a terrifying +16. In fact, in this game, when Paul was on the floor, the Eagles did not have much to do, the whole game, Paul only used 8 shots to get 16 points and 6 rebounds and the team's most 13 assists, and only 2 turnovers, the assist-to-turnover ratio was as high as 6.5, and when Paul came on, the Suns' plus-minus reached a terrifying +26, ranking first in the team, and 12 more points than Crowder in second place, a more direct comparison, this game Suns bench point guard Cameron Payne, when he played The Suns' plus-minus is pathetic -22, and it can be said that with or without Paul controlling the field and organizing, the Suns are completely two different teams.
There's no doubt that this is a typical Game where Paul dominates the fourth quarter, and this is not the first time this season, after playing against the Pelicans, Paul played 11 minutes in the fourth quarter, scored 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and delivered a staggering 6 assists, almost single-handedly helping the team reverse the Pelicans in the final quarter.
Despite being 36 years old, Paul continues to be in excellent shape this season. But so far he has averaged 12.9 points per game and is only fourth on the team, but like this game, Paul once again proved that when he needs to score, he can still bring a steady contribution to the team, and Paul's greatest value to this team lies in his organization and ability to control the game, after giving 13 assists in this game, Paul's average assists per game has reached 12.1 per game, temporarily setting a new career high, while Paul has only 2.5 turnovers per game, and the assist-to-turnover ratio is close to 5, which is a terrifying statistic for a 36-year-old player or not. In addition, 12.1 assists also allows Paul to continue to lead the NBA's assist list this season, and has 2.5 more than the second-place Hawks player Trey Young, judging by Paul's current offensive end paddling and more willing to lead his teammates to play, he is very likely to get the assist king again this season.
Last season, when the Suns reached the Finals, many people were discussing who was the boss of this Suns team, but as long as you have watched the Suns game, you will understand that Paul is the player who decides whether the Suns perform well or badly, it can be said that the 36-year-old Paul is still one of the best point guards in the league, under his leadership, Booker, Bridges, Ayton are the beneficiaries, as long as Paul can continue to have such a calm play, then this Suns is still a team with championship competitiveness.
Sports Weekly all-media reporter Li Hui