Whether it’s from the process of last year’s championship game and the final result of the loss, to the start of the regular season this season, the Suns have always been in the top class of the league, standing in the lead, a few defeats, the demand before the mid-season trade deadline, etc., Finally advancing to the playoffs, as the league’s top seed, the Suns still have an obvious problem, that is, as a team, the Suns are indeed a good enough offense in the regular season, but when faced with a high-intensity battlefield, The ball-holding points that can handle the attack independently are obviously insufficient. The two main players in the backcourt, Devin Booker and Chris Paul, are stable enough, but the Suns are the only two people who can be trusted.
In Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs, Booker fired brilliantly in the first half and then was injured in the second half. The entire series was determined to be absent. Game 3 and Game 4 The situation of the sun’s attack was under repair. Game 3 had Deandre Ayton scoring 28 points. , 17 rebounds to support, Game 4 is CP3 directly shut down, the sun and green leaves group failed to provide outside firepower for four consecutive games, so in Game 4 the sun swallowed, and it is even obvious that the Pelicans walked with rhythm in the second half.
Whether or not he suddenly transformed on the day of the break, the Suns saw a change in Game 5 when they returned to home. Mikal Bridges is the hero who “transformed” and stepped forward throughout the game. This is the starting lineup of the Suns. The main “3D” player in this season, because of the regular season of the Suns, has a huge record, and the nickname “Mikal Jail”, which describes his defensive skills, is also more popular. The newly formed CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram attacked with two guns. They were mainly on the front line to block CJM’s choice. Although Ingram was mainly handed over to Jae Crowder, Bridges’ responsibilities would change when CJM or Crowder were not on the court. As for Ingram, Ingram will use his personal talent advantage to ignore defense and score points, so that he has won praise in this series so far, but CJM has scored points in Game 2 and Game 3 in the fourth quarter, Game 4 and today’s Game 5 hits Rates are clearly affected by the Bridges defense.
In the face of the Pelicans’ double guns, the Suns mainly rely on Bridges to take care of CJM, while against Ingram, they will use the entire team to assist in defense. Except for the first-line Crowder, as long as Ingram uses the pick-and-roll, the Suns are definitely two defenders. Interfere with Ingram first, so Ayton will jump beyond the three-point line. If Ingram breaks into the mid-range, all players standing near the elbow will interfere, and they will definitely use their bodies against Ingram. Most of the time, they will make up defenses. It is Bridges. The data shows that Bridges defended CJM in 36 plays today, and only allowed him to score 10 points in total. CJM only scored 3 goals in 11 shots under Bridges defense, and when Ingram faced Bridges, he also had 34 plays. Ingram had just seven points and shot 2-of-5 from the field.
The defense work was completed. Bridges’ biggest help today came from the offense. In the second half, when Jose Alvarado was entangled with CP3 again, Bridges stepped forward to take over the offense. Although the Suns finally provided outside support in the second half, Bridges 11 in the third quarter. Points, added 13 points in the fourth quarter, and shuttled between the baseline and the 45-degree angle many times. The biggest problem with the Pelicans defense today is that although Alvarado was sent to stick to CP3, the follow-up defense was not explained clearly. Alvarado did make it again. It was a violation of halftime within 8 seconds, but most of the time, as long as the Suns used two people to perform the pick-and-roll in the high post, CP3 could catch the loopholes in the Pelicans’ defense and pass them to Bridges, who cut empty-handed. Bridges actually only rested for more than a minute in the whole game. , but always moves on the court. Even Ayton and Cameron Johnson have a record of assisting Bridges. He made 12 of 17 shots in the game, including four shots from three-point line. With a career-high 31 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 hot pots, both offense and defense became the Suns’ most dazzling performance in this battle.
CP3 briefly praised Bridges after the game: “What he did was clear and important, he was on the court almost the whole game, guarding the opponent’s best player on the court at all times, and then he scored 31 points and everyone watched Arrived.”
In the absence of Booker, the Suns really need someone to stand up. The outbreak of Bridges in this game is extremely important. The Suns have mastered the rhythm since the beginning of the game. Although they were chased by the Pelicans, they never got ahead of the game. The Suns shot 50% of the field, 10 of 27 three-pointers, and only 7 rebounds behind. The Pelicans have a poor double-shot shooting rate, and the team is only 40% of the shots, and only 20% of the three-pointers. 15 more free throws than the Suns and still powerless.
There is no doubt that this is the masterpiece of Bridges’ career playoffs. After the first four games were tied 2:2, the Pelicans even had a high momentum because of the victory of the fourth game. At the same time, Bridges poured cold water on the Pelicans with a wonderful performance. , helping the Suns draw and making the Pelicans reflect on what to do next.
