This is an evaluation of the Phoenix Suns, who are showing off a tremendous firepower show in the NBA playoffs. In Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals held at the Footprint Center on the 8th (Korean time), Phoenix defeated the formidable Denver Nuggets 129-124 and returned the series score to 2-2, starting.
Considering that even the starting point guard, Chris Paul, is out with an injury in a situation of inferiority, it can be said that it is a victory like gold. Denver’s signature star ‘Joker’ Nikola Jokic posted 53 points, 4 rebounds and 11 assists, performing like a monster that day. Unfortunately, he failed to achieve 3 consecutive regular season MVP awards, but he still seemed to show off that he was the best center in the league.
Although it is far from안전놀이터 glamorous and stylish, Phoenix players as well as fans are responding with amazement at the appearance of easily scoring and leading the game. However, Phoenix was not pushed back in the firepower showdown. If Denver had a ‘quiet monster’ named Yokichi, Phoenix had ‘Kobe Kid’ Devin Booker (27‧196cm) and ‘Spider’ Kevin Durant (35‧208cm)’s ‘twin guns’.
On this day, the scoring power of the two twin cannons blew fire. Booker scored 36 points, 6 rebounds and 12 assists, and Durant bombarded the Denver defense with 36 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, responsible for more than half of the team’s total points. It was not easy for Denver to wake up to the power of the twin cannons, where if you block this place, there will explode, and if you block there, this place will explode.
However, there was one player who would be regrettable if left out here, none other than the ‘shadow killer’ Landry Shamet (26‧193cm). Shamet quietly supports the twins throughout the playoffs, which is evaluated as another strength of Phoenix. While the defense’s nerves are focused on Booker and Durant, they often succeed in surprise attacks, making it difficult for the opponent.
While Booker and Durant are stormtroopers who smash opponents with long spears and axes in the lead, Shamet feels like an assassin who quietly wields a longsword and shoots an arrow to break the defensive lines. On this day, too, he supported Ssangpo with 19 points (5 3-point shots), and was more like Altoran in that most of the points came in the 4th quarter. It was no exaggeration to say that it was Shamet, not the twin guns, that virtually dominated the tense fourth quarter.
Denver was taken aback by Shamet’s performance of unexpected outside shots in a row in the match, which led to the effect of freeing the Phoenix twin guns more. In a big game like the playoffs, teams with many different numbers have an advantage. From that point of view, Shamet’s performance, which supports the constant twin cannons and fires support fire, is inevitably reassuring from the Phoenix point of view.
Shamet, who was selected by Philadelphia with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, started playing for Phoenix from the 2021-22 season after going through the Clippers and Brooklyn. Shamet’s strengths are his good off-the-ball movement, in addition to his excellent shooting ability. He constantly moves from place to place, grabs a position, and hits a 3-pointer with a high probability. He is excellent at finding and entering empty spaces, to the extent that there is talk of ‘Shamet is on the way out of the pass’.
It is the type that shoots less and has a high success rate regardless of location such as top or corner, so it is more useful in a team with a clear ace like Phoenix. As a player who is good at creating space, he not only shoots outside the box, but if he wants to see the way to the bottom of the goal, he participates in a cut-in play or jumps in and makes a successful individual breakthrough with a dunk or floater.
As can be seen from his career as a point guard in college, he is also a shooting guard, but is also good at auxiliary reading and various passing plays. He can reliably put in the entry pass, and even when he is attacking with the ball, he finds a teammate in a better position and stabs the pass sharply.
He doesn’t have the defensive weaknesses of many backup shooters. He’s not very strong, but he does his part. Perhaps because he is good at off-the-ball moves, he avoids the screen and follows players who play similarly. As Shamet helps Ssangpo and boasts his hot fingertips, it is certain that the sun in Phoenix will burn even more.