Clippers' Three Stars Shine in Win Over Inconsistent Suns
In what turned into a close game late, L.A. got enough from their leading men to move to 21-12 on the season.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Billed as a potential high-level prizefight between two teams featuring three stars of comparable power, Wednesday night’s meeting in the desert between the LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns was more of a one-sided affair as the Clippers swept away the Suns on the scorecards, 131-122.
The Clippers used a quick first-quarter flurry to put some distance between themselves and the Suns before a late Phoenix rally made it closer than most would have anticipated when the Clippers had a 23-point lead midway through the third quarter.
Paul George scored 21 of his team-high 33 in the first half while James Harden chipped in with 22 points, 11 assists, and 5 rebounds in 36 minutes.
When asked postgame what allowed him to have the scoring night he did, George answered: “Just being aggressive.”
George has scored at least 20 points in each of his last eight games, averaging 24.9 points in the process on 47.9 percent shooting, including 44.9 percent on 8.6 3-point attempts per game.
Harden, who spent time at Arizona State before being drafted No. 3 overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009, made a return to the state he used to dazzle cheering fans.
“I had so much fun and [so many] friends here supporting me and familiar faces to where it’s a special moment,” Harden said postgame. “I want to obviously come away with a win, but tonight we did a really good job. Obviously, we know they were going to make a run basically being up 15-plus the majority of the game. We had our composure, got some stops, got some scores and finished it.”
The star of the show arguably was the man who played 40 minutes in his second game back after missing four contests due to a left hip contusion.
Kawhi Leonard tallied 30 points on 9-for-16 shooting, continuing his recent onslaught of the history books as he notched his 13th consecutive game of at least 50 percent shooting while taking at least 14 field goal attempts. He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Artis Gilmore as the only players to have a streak this long.
“He’s been great, you know, and wanting to play more,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after the team’s 18th win in their last 23 games.
“So, we just got to make sure we’re doing a good job protecting [him] from himself, and like you said, he’s playing great basketball, team is playing great, and so he wants to just continue to keep riding the wave.”
Leonard, a player often considered reserved on the court except for occasional shouts for a foul when he thinks he deserves one, was whistled for a technical foul in the second half on Wednesday, something of a rarity for him. It was Leonard’s third technical foul since joining the Clippers in 2019.
“I’ll probably get it back because I didn’t cuss or anything at the ref, just said, ‘Come on’,” Leonard explained to reporters in the locker room after the game.
Norman Powell added 13 points off the bench for the Clippers, and it was his huge 3-pointer with 3:50 to go in the fourth that helped buoy the Clippers during a time they had gone over five minutes without a made basket. Powell made five of his eight field goal attempts on the night.
Center Ivica Zubac was saddled with foul trouble Wednesday evening, finishing with six points and three rebounds in 27 minutes. Meanwhile, Russell Westbrook chipped in with six points, five rebounds, and two assists off the bench while Amir Coffey had three points and Daniel Theis scored six.
The Clippers sprinted out to a 30-13 lead after nine minutes thanks to George but also in large part to Terance Mann.
Mann, who has been battling some shooting woes to begin the season, knocked down two 3s in the first quarter en route to 12 points in the frame. Mann logged 23 minutes on the evening as the Clippers outscored the Suns by 17 when he was on the floor.
“Just happy for T-Mann,” said George before continuing, “He’s been going through a rough patch, struggling to shoot it a little bit. He’s starting to see the ball going in, he’s starting to catch his rhythm. I mean, you know, teams won’t be able to play off him much longer. But, you know, you can see it all over him when he’s making shots and see the ball go in. It’s one of those things that it just, you know, helps your on-court presence, it helps your mood. And you can see it on him when he’s making shots.”
The Suns were led by Devin Booker’s 35 points, but it was a slow start for the sensational guard, netting just seven points in the first half as the Clippers took a 70-51 lead into the break. Booker came alive with 19 in the third and another nine in the fourth.
His costar on the night, Bradley Beal, scored 21 points but did so on 7-for-20 shooting while missing all six of his 3-point tries.
Former Clipper Eric Gordon had 16 off the bench for Phoenix while big man Bol Bol stole the show for the hometown crowd as they erupted whenever he did something positive. Bol finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and two assists in 19 minutes.
Grayson Allen had 10 points, Chimezie Metu had seven as he started in place of the injured Kevin Durant, and Jusuf Nurkic had nine points and six boards. Keita Bates-Diop and Josh Okogie added five points apiece off the bench.
The Clippers are now 21-12 while the Suns slip to 18-16, giving the Clippers a firm leg up in the standings as each side nears the midway point of the NBA season.
L.A. travels to New Orleans where they’ll play a Pelicans team on Friday that has owned them in recent years. The Clippers haven’t won against New Orleans since Apr. 3, 2022, and have not won in New Orleans since Jan. 18, 2020.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has never won in New Orleans during his coaching career.
Due to their recent uptick in play since dropping six in a row in early November, the Clippers are just three games back of the top seed in the Western Conference and only a game back of Denver for the 3-seed.
The Clippers and Suns meet again on Monday in Los Angeles, and there’s growing hope that Suns superstar Kevin Durant will be able to suit up for that game. However, both squads will be on the second night of a back-to-back, so it will be hard to truly glean much from a game in which both sides will likely be exhausted going in.
We’ll see if the rematch is better than the first encounter. It seldom is.