Well that was rough. Facing their third 0-2 deficit of the playoffs, the Comeback Clippers will have to set yet another NBA record to make it to the NBA Finals.
Game Recap
So as it turns out, mostly everything from my preview was wrong (that’s what you get for asking me to write, Lucas): the lineups changed, small ball was a no-show until mid-way through the second quarter, and the dreaded Rondo-Cousins lineup returned.
The Clippers started Patrick Beverley (to match up with Devin Booker) and Ivica Zubac (to match up with DeAndre Ayton). And finally without a rest disadvantage, the Clippers came out firing, breaking out to an early 8-2 lead. But that was as good as the offense looked in the first half. After answering with their own 9-0 run, the Suns joined the Clippers in looking like a train with no engine, scooting lackadaisically down the track. But the stagnant offense on both sides was because of the tremendous defense being played on both sides.
George saw a mix of defenders from Mikal Bridges to Torrey Craig, and Booker was hounded incessantly by Patrick Beverley and then Terance Mann. Both were ice cold, but to his credit, Paul George stopped shooting contested jumpers and started attacking the paint. Reggie, Mann, and Rondo (huh?) were effective offensively, but curiously Nic Batum barely played. Due to the stagnant offense, Marcus Morris Sr. found himself constantly taking low percentage bail-out shots. And DeMarcus Cousins was just lost on both ends.
The first half was just plain weird. There was a peculiar Suns challenge, an even more peculiar double technical (hi Scott Foster), and a battle between the two most surprising playoff stars, Cam Payne and Reggie Jackson. The sluggish half ended with your Clippers trailing 47-48, but given they shot a paltry 41.9% from the field compared to the Suns’ 46.5%, it was hardly a bad spot to be in. To take control of this game, the second half would need more ball movement (only 5 assists in that first half, which we heard Ty Lue lamenting in the locker room), continued focus on rebounding, and maintained pressure on Booker who could break out at any time. And maybe less DeMarcus Cousins, who just looked lost.
The second half started off as the Cam Payne show. Booker picked up his third foul because Scott Foster will not be denied (but also Paul George was constantly getting him on switches), so Cam Payne just took over. Payne was making every shot imaginable in a very Lou Williams kind of way, which just makes no sense when you consider what he played like before he joined the Suns (hard not to be happy for the guy). Then later in the 3rd quarter it was the Deandre Ayton show, as he terrorized the Clippers on both ends. But no matter how many runs the Suns went on, as is typical of this Clippers team, they would find a way to answer, with big threes coming from Mook and Reggie.
Then a potentially pivotable play happened: Pat Bev reached in on Booker on the perimeter and their heads unintentionally collided. Booker’s nose was bleeding profusely and Beverley’s forehead was bleeding as well. Both players went to the locker room, but fortunately both returned later in the game and seemed to be fine (though Booker’s nose appeared to be broken).
The Cousins experiment thankfully never returned as the Clippers opted to go small against the Suns’ backup center Dario Saric, and Saric seemed not to mind as he bullied the Clippers in the paint (you’d love to have a Serge Ibaka in situations like this). But the Clippers, as usual, hung around on big buckets from all the role players, particularly Luke Kennard who had all 10 of his points in the 4th quarter.
The Clippers trailed the entire second half, until a Paul George layup with 30 left on the clock, giving them a 101-100 lead, and a chance to break Lawler’s Law. Devin Booker then hit his favorite Kobe-esque elbow jumper to put Phoenix up 102-101, followed by Paul George doing the exact same thing on the other end to give the Clippers a 103-102 lead. With Booker coming downcourt with 21 seconds left, Pat Bev poked the ball out of his hands, and in the most technical of technicalities, the ball was touching Booker’s pinky last.
Paul George, who’s played the most minutes of any player in the playoffs and grimaced earlier in the game when he fell on his shoulder, shockingly missed both free throws. Mikal Bridges missed a wide open three to tie, and the Suns retained the ball with 0.9 left. In what was one of the most impressive plays of these playoffs (drawn up by Monty Williams during the millionth video review of this game) the Suns ran a truly fantastic baseline inbounds play that resulted in Deandre Ayton throwing down an alley-oop over Ivica Zubac. Why Cousins, who was guarding the inbounder Jae Crowder, didn’t deny the lob is beyond me. And with 0.7 left, the Clippers threw up a last second heave that Paul George couldn’t get off in time. Suns win 104-103.
Final Thoughts
This was a really disappointing loss given that the Clippers had chance after chance to close it out. After carrying this team through the playoffs after Kawhi Leonard went down, Paul George seemed to hit a brick wall against Phoenix tonight. George finished with 26 points and scored 10 of them in the final frame, as has been typical of him. But he was only 1 of 8 from deep and 5 of 10 from the charity stripe—including those 2 huge misses late. The Clippers need Paul George to be THAT MAN Paul George again, and they need it all game long. But with no more than a day’s rest in sight, the team will need help him by finding ways to get him easier buckets.
Being down 0-2 for the third series in a row just doesn’t feel like a death sentence though, does it? They absolutely can make history (again) with this squad. We’ve seen in two very close contests in Phoenix that the Clippers can play horribly and be right there at the end. This feels familiar because this was the same story the first two series. So, again and again and again, they’ve got their work cut out for them, but this is a team that likes to work and lives for these moments.
Onto the next one.
