The LA Clippers will face the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, looking to hand Devin Booker and Co. their first Pacific Division loss of the season. Continue reading for our Clippers-Suns preview.
Game Information
Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: TNT, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Terance Mann – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Marcus Morris – Ivica Zubac
Suns: Chris Paul – Devin Booker – Josh Okogie – Torrey Craig – Deandre Ayton
Injury Report
Clippers: Out: Norman Powell (Knee)
Suns: Out: Cameron Payne (Foot), Landry Shamet (Foot), Kevin Durant (Hamstring)
The Big Picture
Simply put, this is a huge game. The Clippers (32-28) are just half of a game behind Phoenix (32-27) for sole possession of fourth place in the Western Conference standings. A win in Phoenix on Thursday would prevent LA from losing the season series to the Suns while also moving within a game of Sacramento (32-25), who will head into the All-Star Break as the West’s No. 3 seed.
Sure, the Suns should be one of the conference’s last teams standing if they reach their potential and hit a stride in time for the high-stakes games. But a loss on Wednesday night for LA would be discouraging. Currently, this is a Suns team without Kevin Durant (and Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder and Cam Johnson, who were all traded to Brooklyn last week) that features two usual role-playing reserves in its starting five. The Clippers need to take advantage.
The Antagonist
As mentioned earlier, the Phoenix Suns have a different makeup than they once did. But at their core of Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton — all players who played a pivotal role in sending home the first-ever Western Conference Finals-appearing LA Clippers back in 2021 — is still playing at a high level under Monty Williams. We know what’s coming; a steady dose of pick-and-roll offense, and a flurry of midrange jumpers. But what we don’t know is how the Clippers will defend the actions. Is this a heavy Zubac drop game? Will Mason Plumlee get out to the level of the screen and offer some mixed coverages? Or is Nico Batum going to get his share of small-ball-five minutes?
On the other end, Phoenix does a great job of taking away the 3-point shot, which is an area of the game the Clippers used to demoralize a flawed Golden State defense. Even without Bridges around, Phoenix should still be able to strict to the usual script. It’ll be up to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to make the Suns feel Bridges’ absence.
Clippers vs. Suns Game Notes
- New Faces: Both the Clippers’ and Suns’ benches look a little bit different than they did a couple of weeks ago. Specifically for LA, who will be without Sixth Man of the Year candidate Norman Powell, its new bench pieces (Eric Gordon, Bones Hyland, and Mason Plumlee) will need to produce when the starters aren’t on the floor. TJ Warren should probably see more than the seven minutes he got in his debut off the Suns’ bench, and Terrence Ross might be foaming at the mouth on Thursday in his first bit of action for a contending team in years.
Momentum: The West’s fourth seed is up for grabs. Who is going to snag it? Whichever team does, will head into the All-Star Break feeling quite good about itself. For the Clippers, closing out the final four games before ASB with a 2-2 record would feel a lot better than stumbling into the break going 1-3. If Phoenix can reel off its third straight win with Durant returning on the other side of All-Star Weekend, look out.