The New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns will head to the Crescent City tied at one game each and looking to take a series lead.
There are two important sets of numbers to consider as this series heads into game three and those are 8-7 for the Suns and 10-6 for the Pelicans.
I’m not saying that New Orleans is better than Phoenix by any stretch. The Suns deserve our respect for what they’ve done in the last two years. However, they are 8-7 without their leading scorer Devin Booker this year, and the Pels are 10-6 when Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum are on the floor together.
The New Orleans Pelicans at full strength
In those games, the Pelicans have beaten the Raptors, Suns (2x), Lakers (2x), and Jazz. To be fair, the Pels beat some bad teams in that stretch, as well.
The Suns beat Detroit, New York, Portland, Oklahoma City, Washington, San Antonio, and the Celtics (albeit with no Jaylen Brown, but they still won), so they mostly beat up on bad teams without their leading scorer.
The Suns have only beaten one playoff team without Devin Booker. They lost to the Clippers (2x), Bucks, and Warriors. They also lost to Oklahoma City and Sacramento in those games without Booker.
This is still a dangerous team even without their leading scorer, but the Suns have not fared well against quality NBA teams without him.
If I’m the Pels, I’m feeling extremely confident going into game three, especially after the report of the unfortunate injury of Devin Booker that will potentially have him out for 2-3 weeks.
The Pels will have to adjust with Booker out, but so will the Suns, especially since they will now have to try and stop CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram without their best scorer to make them work on the defensive end.
Nevertheless, the Pelicans have to stay focused and play as if Booker is available. After clawing their way to the play-in, fighting their way through the play-in, and getting the playoffs, this young Pelicans team has proven that they are battle tested.
The numbers say the Pelicans should win this one, but games are not played on paper and they will still have to play their “A” game to get a win at home against the shorthanded Suns.