The Phoenix Suns grabbed a Game 3 victory on the road in New Orleans Friday night, breaking the 1-1 series deadlock with the Pelicans.
Guard Chris Paul and center Deandre Ayton stepped up in a major way to give the Suns an advantage in the series, but Paul’s play continues to set playoff milestones.
The 36-year-old guard scored 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting while adding 14 assists, four rebounds, a steal and zero turnovers in Friday’s win, with Devin Booker being sidelined due to a hamstring injury.
How great has the Point God been? Let’s look at the numbers:
7
Paul notched his seventh career playoff game with 10+ assists and zero turnovers.
NBA legends Magic Johnson, John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Steph Curry, Steve Nash and Isaiah Thomas have all combined for six of those games across their careers, according to StatMuse.
Paul also led the NBA in assists per game at 10.8.
15
Suns fans are well aware of how well the team has played in the clutch the last two seasons.
It seems when things go wrong, head coach Monty Williams trusts whoever is on the court to take over at any moment.
With Booker out, Paul added yet another 15-point fourth quarter and went on a run of scoring 13 of the Suns’ 15 points over a 5:41 minute stretch.
He also scored or assisted on 23 of the Suns’ final 31 points.
Paul finished with 19 points in the final quarter, his second 19-point fourth quarter of the series after doing it in Game 1’s victory as well.
Paul recorded his second 15-point fourth quarter in the last three games, the same as the rest of the NBA this postseason, according to NBA on ESPN.
28
The point guard finished with 28 assists and zero turnovers in his last two games.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is the most in a two-game span since the stat was official in 1977-78.
He has 38 assists and two turnovers in the first three games of the series.
51
Paul recorded his 51st career playoff game with 10 assists, passing former Sun Jason Kidd for fourth all time, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Paul recorded 702 assists over the course of the season.
The Suns will battle the Pelicans in Game 4 from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Catch all the action on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.