Behind Chris Paul’s Perfect Execution, The Phoenix Suns Survived Their First Challenge

Everyone in Smoothie King Center was standing on their feet. The thought of staying calm in this moment didn’t exist. In Game 6 of the first round, the New Orleans Pelicans were clinging to a one-point lead with 4:25 remaining.

However, there’s one thing head coach Willie Green knows: Against the Phoenix Suns, those last five minutes of a narrow game can feel like an eternity.

Devin Booker, in his return to action after missing three games with a strained hamstring, is calling for Deandre Ayton to initiate a high pick-and-roll. Chris Paul, sitting on a perfect 12-of-12 shooting night, is stationed in the right corner until he sees the coverage.

The Pelicans have their center, Jonas Valanciunas, playing at the level of the ball-screen. After watching Paul walk into mid-range jumpers, they don’t want to allow Booker the same type of look.

Once Booker comes off the screen, Ayton has a small window of space in the middle of the floor. To provide help, Jose Alvarado (guarding Paul), rotates to Ayton by sliding over:

Meanwhile, Paul is reading this. He lifts from the corner, knowing he’ll be the next available pass for Ayton. Once the pesky Alvarado notices Paul is open, he does a great job of getting back.

But, he gave the Point God inside position on his dominant side. Paul attacks the open stance, beating his defender and attracting the next:

Now, he has a decision to make. He either forces Valanciunas to commit and drops off a pass to Ayton, or continues to give us flashbacks to vintage CP3.

Over a seven-footer, he elevates and releases the ball with graceful touch.

Back rim … bounce. Front rim … bounce.

The Suns’ finisher came through again as the ball found its way home, keeping his perfect game alive:

This wasn’t Paul’s last shot of the night. With 30 seconds left in the game, his Suns leading by three, the 17-year veteran exhibited the small amount of burst he has left in the tank by crossing over CJ McCollum and getting directly to his favorite pull-up.

But, the floater in the lane over Valanciunas – more importantly, playing off the ball and letting Booker-Ayton dictate the early action – signified the beauty of Paul’s entire series.

He can be the play starter. He can be the play connector when necessary. And he can certainly be the finisher.

CP3’s playoff reputation is still underrated and not fully appreciated, particularly by NBA fans who only count the rings and trophies. When a game is hanging in the balance, he’s a cerebral assassin that will make the correct read 99% of the time.

Behind Paul’s halfcourt brilliance, the Suns iced New Orleans on the road. Now branded as the Pelicans and not the Hornets, as they were in Paul’s six-year tenure from 2005 to 2011, New Orleans has something in common with the LA Clippers. Both of his former fanbases have been treated to all-time performances in closeout games.

Whether Paul’s history with the Hornets and Clippers played any part of him bringing out the best version of himself, we’ll never know. But in the last calendar year, his three closeout games (one game away from the next round) have been magnificent.

• June 13, 2021 @ Nuggets: 37 points, 7 assists, 2 turnovers on 80.6% True Shooting
• June 30, 2021 @ Clippers: 41 points, 8 assists, 0 turnovers on 81.0% True Shooting
• April 28, 2022 @ Pelicans: 33 points, 8 assists, 3 turnovers on 104.7% True Shooting

All on the road in narrow victories. In those three closeout games, he’s a combined 44-of-57 from the field.

His masterclass in Thursday’s Game 6 broke an NBA playoff record for the most points scored (33) without a single missed shot. For a six-foot point guard to be the first person on that list is perhaps the wildest part of the achievement.

Going by true shooting, which measures scoring efficiency from all areas (with more weight on three-point volume), Paul’s Game 6 is now fifth on the list of most-efficient playoff games with at least 30 points scored.

Who’s No. 1 on that list?

It just so happens to be Chris Paul’s 2014 Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as shot 4-of-5 on twos and 8-of-9 on threes:

As for the Suns, they managed to escape a frisky first-round opponent with Booker missing half the series. While the Pelicans were only technically a .500 team after acquiring McCollum at the trade deadline, they matched up extremely well with Phoenix.

They overcame the Pelicans’ outrageous rebounding advantage, as New Orleans finished the series with a 37% offensive rebounding rate (leading the playoffs). Phoenix gave up 90 offensive boards across six games, handing the Pelicans second and third scoring opportunities.

New Orleans didn’t back down from the top-seeded Suns. Despite the gap in playoff experience, they kept punching back. As Monty Williams mentioned after the series, it was difficult for the Suns to match the youthful energy on most night — until he finally got his team to realize it’s time to finish the deal.

“We talked at halftime about the spirit of our team,” Williams said following Game 6. “I had a few personal things to say to the team — (the Pelicans) were playing with their heart. Just playing harder than us. It was just like, every time we win a game in this series, the next game, we come into and didn’t have the same juice. I was like, enough is enough.”

Additionally, Phoenix knew it had to capitalize on the offensive end and generate the right shots. If they were going to be susceptible to defensive blunders against Valanciunas on the boards and the Pelicans’ perimeter scorers, they couldn’t afford to make mistakes on the other end.

Even with that in mind, it’s not like the Suns lit up the court. In reality, they struggled from a shotmaking standpoint all series — at least from beyond the arc.

Phoenix won the series despite shooting just 31.9% on threes, while also losing the free throw margin by 54 in terms of trips to the line:

One glance at the raw numbers and it’s easy to see how they overcame such critical weaknesses. The Suns generated 105 points per 100 halfcourt possessions – the second highest rate in the playoffs behind Golden State – and were able to shoot 62.3% from inside the arc.

Look no further than Paul and Ayton as the catalysts to such a hyper-efficient shooting display. Whether it was mid-range jumpers, tightly-contested floaters, or lobs at the rim, this connection is what launched Phoenix into the second round.

Paul and Ayton combined to shoot 71.9% in the paint and 64.7% on jumpers outside of 15 feet:

For the series, Paul finished with 68 total assists and only six bad-pass turnovers, a ratio that frankly shouldn’t be possible in any matchup.

Also stepping up to give Phoenix a huge boost in Booker’s absence was Mikal Bridges, who probably just had the best two-week stretch of his career. As a switch defender that guarded literally everyone on the floor for good chunks of time in this series, Bridges blew up the Pelicans’ late-game actions, made some timely blocks and strips to force turnovers, and unlocked his entire offensive game by staying aggressive.

Phoenix needed Bridges to break out of his shell and not be passive with the ball in his hands. Game 5 was undoubtedly the best game he’s ever played as a pro, breaking the 30-point mark and taking advantage of the space New Orleans was giving him along the three-point line. He shot 8-of-15 from deep in the series, and the Suns are going to need him to keep increasing the volume on those looks if he’s this effective.

Although Paul and Ayton were the main reasons Phoenix was incredible inside the arc, Bridges’ ability to sneak backdoor on the Pelicans is what enabled a lot of easy layups and dunks.

Sometimes, it started with him on the ball and playing give-and-go with his center. Other possessions, it included him faking his defender and slipping backdoor:

His favorite cut remains the baseline sprint after he tricks the defense into thinking he’s about to lift from the corner:

On cuts to the basket in this first-round series, the Suns finished 29 of their 36 attempts for a blistering 80.6% rate.

What can’t go under the radar, though, is the unbelievable job Bridges did against McCollum. Per NBA’s tracking data, Bridges spent 47 minutes matched up with the Pelicans’ backcourt leader. In those minutes, McCollum shot just 13-of-36 from the floor (36.1%), including an 0-of-8 shooting night in Bridges’ lockdown Game 5.

In the series, he forced McCollum into six turnovers – none bigger than the decisive giveaway in Game 6, which started with Bridges trapping McCollum 35 feet from the basket. After swiping the ball out of his hands, the Suns’ defensive MVP threw down a breakaway slam as Williams showed his appreciation on the sideline:

Overall, this six-game matchup was nothing short of exciting. It was also a much-needed test for the 64-18 Suns, who weren’t sure if Booker would be able to return until the next round.

Pelicans head coach Willie Green knew all of the right buttons to push after spending the last two seasons as a Suns assistant. No offensive set that Williams drew up could fool Green. No defensive adjustment surprised him. That advantage (relative to any other opponent for the Suns) plays a huge role in game-planning and finding answers to what Phoenix likes to run.

So, even if there was a huge discrepancy in team records, the Suns knew it would require fighting through some early adversity.

And in the context of an NBA postseason, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Facing challenges in the first round, or letting a series go longer than five games, doesn’t exactly raise red flags for the later matchups. If you recall the 2014 San Antonio Spurs, who I’ve compared this Phoenix team to in recent months, Gregg Popovich found himself in a close first-round battle with the Dallas Mavericks.

San Antonio lost Game 6 on the road, setting up a do-or-die scenario in Game 7. They were focused all year on getting back to the Finals and seeking revenge against Miami. A lot of viewers saw the first round struggles as an indicator that San Antonio would be toast once they ran into the Thunder or Clippers.

However, after going the distance and surviving Dallas in Game 7 (winning the series by 14 total points), the Spurs went 12-4 the rest of the way and captured the title. They outscored their opponents by a combined 200 points in the final 16 games, a net rating of 13.6 per 100 possessions.

Every round is different. Every opponent presents unique challenges. That’s what makes the NBA playoffs so enthralling.

For Phoenix’s next obstacle, they will attempt to solve the most difficult puzzle in basketball. Luka Dončić, at age 23, puts any defense in peril because of his dual-threat attack as a pick-and-roll scorer and facilitator. Other than LeBron James, there is nobody in the league quite like him.

The Suns know it won’t be a cakewalk, even if the supporting cast should be a considerable advantage for the reigning Western Conference champions.

After a satisfying closeout game on the road, the only thing to do now is follow their head coach’s favorite mantra. Don’t get happy on the farm.