The Clippers pulled off a solid win on the road in Phoenix despite a mini-collapse in the 2nd half.
Summary
The game started off a bit slow, with the score sitting at 5-4 after a few minutes. At that point, the scoring was uncorked, particularly on the Clippers’ side, with Paul George leading the way. He scored early and often, with excellent ball movement giving him wide open threes as well as cuts with momentum to the rim. The Suns were able to keep pace for a bit, but a Clippers’ surge got them out to a 30-13 lead with just a few minutes left. A 5-0 spurt by the Suns got the lead back to a respectable margin until a PG and-one (giving him 17 points on 6-8 shooting) pushed the Clippers’ edge back to 15 after one.
The Clippers didn’t stagger Kawhi or PG to start the 2nd, rolling out a unit of Russ, Harden, Norm, Coffey, and Theis that has barely played together (if at all) this year. The resulting two minutes were a bit sloppy, and Kawhi returned for Russ to restore order. The Suns got the lead down to 39-31, but a trio of threes over a couple of minutes by Norm, Harden, and Kawhi pushed the Clippers’ lead back to 48-33 with 7:07 to go. The overall sloppiness continued for another few minutes, with the Clippers’ starters slowly trickling back in. Harden and Kawhi did most of the damage for the Clippers, with Beal leading the Suns. The last few minutes of the half things got chippy, with Booker, Beal, and Bones picking up techs. Still, the Suns could not slow the Clippers, who led 70-51 at half.
The 3rd quarter started with both offenses going full bore. Booker finally got fully untracked, and unleashed a series of midrange, three-point, and free throw shots on the Clippers (he scored 19 in the period). However, the Clips matched him blow for blow, and actually extended their lead after a few minutes, going up by as much as 23 in the middle part of the quarter before Booker and Beal trimmed it back to the teens. The bench came in for the Clippers, and things began to unravel a bit, with the lead going all the way down to 15 and then settling at 16 entering the 4th.
The Clippers started the 4th with another unusual lineup, this time Harden-Russ-Norm-Kawhi-Theis. Both teams returned to sloppiness, and even though the Clippers maintained a lead in the mid-teens, it did not feel comfortable. At the 8 minute mark, with the Clippers up 15, a three-point foul on Harden was overturned, and Ty Lue went to the Powell Rangers (shouts to Clips N’ Dip) lineup with Norm instead of Mann with the starters.
Unfortunately, this unit, which has been gangbusters all season, was ineffective when the Clippers needed it. The offense, in particular, the unit’s strong suit, could not generate open looks even against a Suns team with Bol Bol at center, as the group made poor and slow decisions against double teams. On the other end, the Clippers got the ball out of Booker’s hands but that just led to a slew of open trees for the other guys. With 4:30 to go, the Clippers had made only three field goals in the quarter and led by 8. A huge Norm three followed by a steal and Kawhi free throws pushed the lead back to 13, and while the Suns continued to make things interesting, the Clippers made just enough plays to pull out the 131-122 win.
Notes
Big 3 Steps Up: None of the Clippers’ superstars were perfect (Kawhi and Harden both had some bad turnovers and decisions, and PG wasn’t aggressive enough at times), but all of them had big games and made huge shots. George had 33 points on 8-14 shooting (5-10 from three, 12-14 from FT) and 7 rebounds, Harden had 22 points on 7-13 shooting (4-7 from three, 4-4 from FT) and 11 assists, and Kawhi added 30 points on 9-16 shooting (4-6 from three, 8-8 from FT) with 8 rebounds. It was a scoring and shooting clinic from the Clippers’ three best players, all of whom logged over 36 minutes in what felt like a playoff-type atmosphere. It was good to see them all out there and playing well and going toe-to-toe with Booker (incendiary outside of the 2nd quarter) and Beal (cold from three).
Not Enough Mann: While Terance Mann has had some tough games this season and Norm Powell has been great on offense, this was a game that called for more Mann instead of Norm. Mann played excellently, scoring 12 points on 5-8 shooting and making 2 of his 4 threes, and his defense on Booker helped set the tone. Norm shot the ball well too, but he had several atrocious turnovers and his defense was… not so good. I like going to Norm to juice the offense, but tonight I wish Ty had returned to Mann down the stretch.
Too Many Fouls: There were 41 foul calls in this game, several technicals, and 58 free throws. That’s entirely too many – let these guys play. I hate when referees overcontrol a tight and hotly contested game, and that’s what happened here. It made a game that should have been a lot of fun a slog for long stretches. Blah.
