Capping off a strenuous six-game stretch, the L.A. Clippers (29-30) will visit Chris Paul and the stellar Phoenix Suns (46-10) on national TV Tuesday night. Read on for our full Clippers vs Suns game preview.
Clippers vs. Suns Game Information
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
When: 7 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: TNT, AM 570 KLAC, KWKW
Projected Starting Lineups
L.A. Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Terance Mann – Nicolas Batum – Marcus Morris Sr. – Ivica Zubac
Phoenix Suns: Chris Paul – Devin Booker – Mikal Bridges – Jae Crowder – Deandre Ayton
Injury Report
L.A. Clippers: Paul George – OUT (Right Elbow UCL Tear), Luke Kennard – QUESTIONABLE (Left Ankle Soreness), Kawhi Leonard – OUT (Right Knee; ACL – Injury Recovery), Norman Powell – OUT (Left Foot; Fractured Medial Sesamoid Bone), Jason Preston – OUT (Right Foot – Injury Recovery), Jay Scrubb – OUT (Right Foot – Injury Recovery)
Phoenix Suns: Frank Kaminsky – OUT (Right Knee; Stress Reaction), Cameron Payne – OUT (Right Wrist Sprain), Dario Šarić – OUT (Right Knee; ACL Tear), Landry Shamet – OUT (Right Ankle Sprain)
Update: Luke Kennard (Left Ankle Soreness) will play tonight, per Law Murray.
The Big Picture
Heading into the season, you couldn’t help but expect it to be a rough year for the Clippers considering their injury situation and unfavorable schedule. However, while there is indeed pain to be felt by those in Clipper Nation, as it stands fifty-nine games into the season, Monday night’s showing from the team perhaps highlighted the unexpected nature of what this season has become — more than just a throw-away year. LAC has been far from perfect each and every night, but the way they’ve battled with what they’ve had has made the absences of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George hit a bit differently. Following a stretch that saw the Clippers get the best of Milwaukee, Memphis and Dallas’ one-of-a-kind stars, win or mostly lose, LAC returned home to overcome Golden State and Steph Curry’s 26-point opening quarter explosion. With the Clippers somehow remaining in the mix and the league race remaining wide open once again, it makes you truly wonder how different things could be if Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and, just recently, Norman Powell were healthy. Nonetheless, the world keeps on spinning, and the last tough test awaiting LAC before the All-star break is the team with the best record in the league thus far.
The Antagonist
With the season series tied one apiece, the shorthanded Clippers’ defensive gameplan will shift from Curry and Klay to the CP3 and Book backcourt back to back. Considering that Utah and Minnesota combined 0-for-4 as the only other teams unlucky enough to have faced this challenge this season, it would be absolutely ridiculous if LAC pulled this one off tonight. For the second season in a row, the Suns have been speedrunning the NBA as winners of five straight and 21 of their last 23 games. Although they will be missing some key bench contributors up to this point in Cameron Payne and Landry Shamet, Phoenix will still have the first, second, and third-best players on the floor heading into tip-off.
Clippers vs. Suns Game Notes
- Wings, Wings and more Wings: The Clippers’ last game sent some ripples around NBA Twitter thanks to Terance Mann playing with that familiar swagger from the playoffs, Nicolas Batum doing it all as the glue guy and Robert Covington really making it seem like it was more than just “the Norman Powell trade.” According to Law Murray after the trade deadline, Tyronn Lue joked about constantly getting new players, “They keep thinking I can work miracles man; I don’t know how long it’s going to last!” Honestly, it’s been incredible to see how many guys have continued to come in and thrive under his system.
- Sharing the Sugar: Tonight’s game will showcase two of the league’s better 3-point shooting and defensive teams. As such, it will be interesting to see which offense gets thrown off their game here. The Clippers are coming off of posting 25 assists and just 12 turnovers against the NBA’s No. 1 rated defense (albeit without Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala), while the Suns had 40 assists and just seven turnovers against Orlando on Saturday.
- Not in the Baby Blues: The Clippers will be donning their classy City Edition uniforms tonight for the sixth time this season. While it is a small sample size, their win rate and overall level of play have noticeably been better (4-1) when rocking the jerseys. Unfortunately, they won’t wear ’em again after tonight until March.
Feel free to stick around and chat down below as this article’s comment section will serve as our live game thread tonight against the Phoenix Suns. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!
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