Hi is in control of the rebounding ball and is in control of destiny.
Phoenix Suns 119-116 Golden State Warriors
Withstanding the Warriors' final comeback, the Suns didn't let the offense in the fourth quarter go to waste. After beating the Warriors at home under the leadership of Devin Booker in the final quarter, the Suns have come down as winners in three meetings with their big brother Paul over the past three years this season.
Of course, in addition to the victory or defeat, the most discussed thing in this game came from Green's punching in the third quarter, this time the punch to Nurkic's head had no argument at all, and the referee directly awarded a second-degree malicious foul and was ejected from the game at the moment. And Green didn't make excuses for himself this time like the last time he locked Gobert's throat, and apologized to the victim after the game. But to no avail, the alliance should still be punished.
Green's moves aside, this game is big for the Suns. Bradley Beal, who was traded in the offseason, finally returned to the team after a month of offseason, and this is his fourth appearance of the season, and finally got the opportunity to play with the Suns' backcourt ace Booker. The backcourt pair, who have been skeptical, finally ushered in the time of union after a month and a half of the season.
However, judging by the content of the game, the duo did not please us too much, and although it was the first time they combined, it was predictable that the Suns still had a long way to go.
As we have discussed before, the style shift of basketball in the 21st century is very obvious, referring to James's previous championship experience during the Heat period, we can already see that the basketball style without position difference will be the trend of modern basketball, and it has also been proven by many people to win championships.
But back to the game, it's hard to ignore the value of the center and point guard position in the process of building many teams, and the center position has begun to pick up in recent seasons with the rise of Jokic and Embiid, but the actual influence has been gradually weakened and far less than before.
And the point guard is the position that sparks discussion, saying that he is not important, Curry has led the Warriors to win championships many times as a core, and the elderly Paul can also bring the Suns back to the Finals in one fell swoop;And to say that it is important, James can also win the championship with an ordinary point guard like Money, the Nuggets' focus is also on Jokic, and Murray is more like a scoring guard with the ability to hold the ball.
But in any case, given that Paul's influence in the playoffs has been declining year by year in the last two seasons, the Suns also chose to give up in the offseason and replace them with Beal, whose ability to control the court is unknown, but whose offensive firepower is strong enough. Last season, the trio of Paul + Booker + Durant corresponded to the traditional positions of point guard, point guard and forward, which seemed to be a more reasonable match. After Paul was replaced by Beal, it was impossible for the original Booker to leave the scoring guard position, but Beal also started as a scoring guard, and has partnered with two star point guards Wall and Wei Shao in his career, and Beal has proved that he is capable of being the best offensive deputy next to these main point guards.
As a result, when the Suns determined that the starting backcourt this season would be Beal and Booker, the most direct voice from the outside world was: Who will be the point guard?
Of course, we believe that Beal, Booker, and Durant are not big all-en-compassers, and they all have a certain passing ability and off-ball offensive mode. It's just that the season has been played from the beginning of the season to the midseason tournament, because Beal has been affected by a back injury, and the three games he played happened to be Booker's suspension due to a leg injury, so before this game, we haven't seen the Suns' Big Three, or this group of backcourt combinations that should be strong but are questioned by the outside world because of the lack of point guards, have really played together.
Until this game against the Warriors, it was also an experimental game to some extent. Compared with the Suns' non-traditional two-point guard backcourt, the Warriors originally had an excellent backcourt rotation, and because of Thompson's poor performance in this game, Curry and Paul, the star point guards, had a lot of time to play together, but formed an interesting matchup of a group of offensive backcourt PK double ace point guards without traditional point guards.
As Beal and Booker teamed up for the first time this season, the Suns didn't put one of them off the bench as the Clippers did, but instead started together. After deducting the rounds in which the two replaced each other several times in the game, the total time of more than 16 minutes of joint play was 5 minutes after the start of the first quarter, 2 minutes at the end of the second quarter, more than 5 minutes in the first half of the third quarter, and more than 4 minutes at the end of the last quarter.
On the other hand, in the time that Bill and Booker played together, the first three quarters were basically tied with the Warriors, and in the final quarter, Bill chose to play after Booker scored consecutive points to pull out the lead, but was chased by the Warriors in the final stage, and the plus/minus value handed over during the time the two were on the court together in this game was -5. Although there is a lot of room for interpretation of the plus/minus of a single event, judging from this game, we can definitely say that the combination of Beal and Booker did not play much positive, and it is definitely not unreasonable.
The main reason may be that because of Durant's absence, the Suns must stagger two ball-handlers who can serve as the main attackers, but in terms of practical effect, even if the Warriors are pressed close at the end of the final quarter, the first three quarters when the two combined did not really work.
Beal, in particular, was just 3-of-8 in the first three quarters, which is definitely not what a star player should be;Judging from the content of the game, compared to Booker's ability to control the court steadily from last season's playoffs when he was the backcourt ball handler, Beal obviously failed to successfully connect the team's offense in this game. Outside of the ball-handling offense, he didn't do well in the off-ball end of the ball around the screen, cut in the air, and all in all, he didn't find a personal rhythm between ball-handling and off-ball roles, and the right way to partner with Booker.
As early as this season's preseason training camp, the team's head coach Vogel made it clear to the outside world: Beal will participate in the team's various drills as a starting point guard. But looking at the data this season, although Beal's sample of games is only four, his assist rate has slipped to the lowest level in the last seven seasons while handing over the personal usage rate for the same period, and has fallen below 20 for the first time in his career.
On the other hand, Booker, as a partner, has maintained a stable personal usage rate this season as the main ball handler since the third season of his career, but his personal assist efficiency has exploded to 408, ranking in the top four of the league, second only to Haliburton, Jokic and Trae Young, who are currently in the top three assists.
As it stands, Booker has elevated his playmaking skills to a level that is slightly inferior to Paul's, and without Paul, he's the Suns' real main point of view this season. As for Beal, whether it is from the physical condition or the run-in with the new team, serving as an offensive arrow and returning to his Xi team positioning may be the most reasonable way for him this season. And if this positioning is arranged, when Booker unleashes his two-way guard talent, Beal will become the key to the team, and when he can find his suitable offensive position, which will be the most important issue in the Suns' backcourt lineup.
Of course, there have not been two backcourt partners with similar offensive characteristics before, such as Irving + Harden during the Nets, Lillard + McCollum of the Trail Blazers, the Splash Brothers with four championships, the Mavericks backcourt this season, and so on. It's just that at least one player in these combinations is positioned in the point guard position, but later the first responsibility on the court has changed due to too strong offensive firepower. But Booker and Beal's pairing is, in our opinion, completely different from the above pairs.
Booker and Beal both started as shooting guards, and even after signing the top salary with the home team at the same time last year, the status of the two can be regarded as competing for the league's first point guard, and they have also accompanied the team through the trough as main players, but Booker has been promoted to the position of the leader of the strong team with Paul's mentor, and perhaps it is because of this experience that he can have the performance of the passing organization this season, and he can be a qualified point guard.
As for Beal, even if the data of previous years has a certain passing ability, but judging from the performance of this season alone, he has not been able to show that he can replace the team when the team lacks the main control.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and if Booker can really show it up like the stats, then he's already a good point guard candidate, and the Suns' backcourt partner might be able to answer the questions. Booker is the head guard, and Beal continues to return to his good point guard arrow, which is still a good enough lineup. It's just that Beal's off-ball performance in this game is not ideal, and it still needs to be adjusted in the future.