After dropping a close Western Conference Finals Game 1 in Phoenix on Sunday, just 39 hours after finishing off the Utah Jazz in 6 games, the Clippers are undoubtedly eager to even the series against the Suns.
The game seemed eerily similar to Game 1 against the Jazz: despite being at a huge rest disadvantage, the scrappy Clippers managed to hang around all game long, only to run out of gas and fall just short in the final minutes. Hopefully history won’t repeat itself because I’m not sure if the Clippers (or I) can handle another 0-2 deficit.
Fortunately, there was plenty to like about the Clippers’ performance in Game 1, and it feels like they have a solid chance of stealing homecourt advantage in Game 2.
Game Information
Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: ESPN
Projected Starting Lineups
LA Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Terance Mann – Paul George – Marcus Morris Sr. – Nicolas Batum
Phoenix Suns: Cameron Payne – Devin Booker – Mikal Bridges – Jae Crowder – Deandre Ayton
The Big Picture
For the third round in a row (damn that feels nice to type) the Clippers find themselves trailing at the start of a best-of-seven series (that part was less fun to type). The NBA did them no favors with the schedule—more on that later—but they were always going to be at a rest disadvantage in Game 1. And heading into Game 2, that playing field has been leveled. Of course, the Suns also have the advantage of younger legs, but the Clippers haven’t played like the league’s second oldest team since the regular season. I fully expect a hard-nosed bloodbath tonight.
Both teams are missing key players: the Clippers are missing Kawhi Leonard (knee), Serge Ibaka (back), and possibly even Marcus Morris Sr. (knee); and the Suns are missing Chris Paul (DNP-cursed). But both teams are far from helpless, with two-way depth all the way to the ends of their respective benches.
A Game 2 win could put the Clippers in a position to go up 3-1 before they head back to Phoenix and that rowdy crowd. So while Game 2’s clearly haven’t been must-wins for the Clippers this post-season, this one is a huge opportunity to buy themselves some sorely needed breathing room.
The Antagonist
This Suns team is good, even without former Clipper Superstar Chris Paul. Paul George said that they were a different caliber team, and Ivica Zubac said that Deandre Ayton was the most impressive offensive big the Clippers had faced this postseason (dopey giants that refuse to post up Reggie Jackson are a low bar, but still). They’re a team that’s got legitimately solid contributors all the way down the line and doesn’t really have anyone you can target until Dario Saric, who’s still really solid offensively. They have the sort of true playoff depth that Utah was lacking.
As usual, the Clippers’ focus will be on defensive adjustments heading into Game 2, with a particular focus on Clipper Killer Devin Booker. They’ll try to force someone else to make plays, or at least try to contain him a little better to keep him from getting to his spots so comfortably—easier said than done.
Chris Paul, whose previous shoulder injury seems behind him, has been out on health and safety protocols after somehow contracting COVID-19 despite reportedly being vaccinated. He remains out for Game 2, but the Clippers need to take advantage of his absence because the Suns’ crunch-time offense will get a massive boost from the Point God’s presence when he returns. Assuming he does come back, it’ll be strange to see him in a Clippers playoff game wearing a different jersey.
Notes
- The NBA Scheduling Sociopaths: The Clippers closed out the Jazz in less than 7 games and were “rewarded” with the shortest turnaround of any Western Conference Finals team—despite the Bucks and Hawks taking 7 games to win, they got 3 days and 2 days of rest respectively. Patrick Patterson noticed. The Clippers’ short turnaround likely happened because ABC wanted two games on Father’s Day, but then that’s a much more important issue: the league compressing an already compressed schedule, despite numerous injuries, just to appease ABC. Would Morris’ knee have started to give out if he’d gotten another day’s rest? I don’t know, but playing every other day for the entire month of June couldn’t have helped.
- Small Ball vs Ayton: Now despite playing against their most offensively gifted big man opponent this post-season in Deandre Ayton, we saw the Clippers return to a small ball lineup and it surprisingly didn’t get eaten alive. As noted by Lucas Hann, the Clippers were +9 in Ayton vs small ball, and -21 in Ayton vs traditional center lineups. The Clippers shot more threes with Ayton on the court, which is naturally a big part of a top-5-all-time-shooting-team’s game plan. So expect to see more small ball in Game 2. One caveat though, most of that -21 vs traditional centers was caused by DeMarcus Cousins, not Ivica Zubac who had a solid game defensively against Ayton (held to 2 shot attempts and 2 points in 15 minutes), so I don’t think we’ll see any less of Zu. It’ll be fun to see what Coach Ty Lue goes with.
- Lineup Tinkering: Speaking of Ty Lue, he loves to play with his lineups until he finds his optimal rotations by the mid-point of the series. So I’m guessing that while we won’t see that awful Rondo-Cousins bench lineup again we’ll probably see something new that we weren’t expecting. Lue had mentioned he liked some of the things Rondo did in game 1, but I doubt he goes to the same ineffective bench group again. If this post-season has taught us anything, it’s that something always changes game-to-game with Ty Lue’s strategy after a loss, and it’s typically for the better.
- Fighting: There was fighting in the concourse after Game 1. It was really lame. I hope there’s no fighting after Game 2.
- Kawhi Update: We don’t really have one because that’s just how our lovable robotic Favors-soul-eating superstar operates. But Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes referred to him as day-to-day and we haven’t heard any change from the “sprain” diagnosis.
- Content: Check out the latest episode of The Lob, The Jam, The Podcast where Dr. Shap and Cole Huff (@colehoops) break down Game 1 and talk about potential adjustments heading into Game 2.
Lettuce.
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