With the best performance of Paul george in playoffs, Los Angeles Clippers they got a key win 116-102 on the court of Phoenix suns, they put the series 3-2 and they stretched to a sixth game the definition of the final of the Western Conference of the NBA.
The Clippers star took over the team after the injury of Kawhi leonard and he fulfilled that role almost perfectly: was the figure of the game with 41 points, the highest number of his postseason career, 13 rebounds and 6 assists.
The eaves scored 20 of his points in a frenzied third quarter while point guard Reggie Jackson (23 points) appeared with two triples in a row in the fourth quarter as the Suns closed in on the scoreboard.
George He is the fourth player in NBA history to score more than 20 points in each of the first 18 Playoff games. He joins Michael Jordan (1991, 1992, 1997, 1998), legend Kobe Bryant (2008) and Kevin Durant (2012, 2018).
With their star Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely, the Clippers once again exhibited their survivability with which they have already rallied 2-0 deficits in the first two rounds of these playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz.
The Suns, meanwhile, squandered the first of their three chances to return to the NBA Finals after a 28-year absence. Devin Booker (31 points), point guard Chris Paul (22) and the rest of the Suns will have a new opportunity this Wednesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, for the sixth game.
The winner of this series will play the Finals against the winner of the Eastern Conference final, which dominates the Milwaukee Bucks 2-1 against the Atlanta Hawks.
The match
From the beginning, the Clippers determined to extend the series, with an excellent 20-point performance by Marcus Morris in the first half, which allowed the Los Angeles team to reach the long break with the game 59-52.
It was there that George appeared, after a difficult night in game four, and he dispatched with 20 of his 41 points in the third quarter. He ended up making 15 of 20 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 triples.
At the Suns, in addition to Booker and Paul, who is trying to reach a final for the first time in a 16-year career, he also sported Denadre Ayton, with 10 points and 12 recoveries.
Ayton was coming off 22 rebounds in Game 4, the most of his career, plus 19 points and four caps. Thus, he put his name next to Tim Duncan (Spurs), the last player to reach those numbers in a conference finals game, in 2003 against the Dallas Mavericks (34 points, 24 rebounds and 6 blocks).
The Clippers took a 91-78 lead in the fourth quarter and The Suns came close to 98-94 with 6m58 by the end of the game, but Los Angeles responded with a 10-2 run. and walked away to finally take the victory.