Suns find progress, show same warts in win over Clippers
PHOENIX — Aesthetically pleasing wins aren’t coming anytime soon for the Phoenix Suns, but the sooner they show progress through their mistakes like Monday’s 111-109 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, the closer they will be to achieving those in the future.
And with that said, the Suns putting together more high-level stretches still qualifies as a success even when mixed in with the maddening lows, especially when they hold on for a win. They’ve now won nine of their last 12 to improve to 24-21.
Phoenix played its best first half in weeks to lead by 13 before giving up a 20-6 run in the third quarter filled with nasty turnovers that let the Clippers back in the game and eventually lead. The Suns fought back on two different occasions to take the advantage back to double digits, going up 13 with 5:08 to go, a push-back element worth noting that will be crucial to possess over the next two months.
But watching the Suns attempt to close out a game continues to be like the person that is slipping, and while attempting to recover, keeps repeatedly slipping as they frantically try to regain their balance. Some nights, the Suns are able to stay on their feet, exhale and walk away like nothing happened. Other nights, they fall flat on their face.
Everyone who has watched the Suns the past season-plus has developed an intuition for when the slip begins. The importance of a possession to end in either a stop or a score is amplified because of the looming presence of the game snowballing.
The second of those stretches came over 3:40 of the final frame, a 16-4 collapse the Clippers scored on seven straight possessions during to get within one with 40 seconds remaining.
Phoenix then generated free throws for Bradley Beal off a double-team on Kevin Durant, and once Los Angeles’ Norman Powell was fouled with 19 seconds left down three, it would come down to whether the Suns could execute enough with the free-throw shenanigans. Powell missed his first to make it easier on Phoenix, who wrapped up the win.
This was the type of performance from Devin Booker when he is the complete catalyst, the guy we recognize. He amounted to 26 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and two turnovers in 39 minutes, with several hockey assists too that punished the Clippers’ defensive scheme.
Los Angeles (26-20) has oddly built up an elite defense via giving up lots of 3s. It gives up the third-highest 3-point frequency, per Cleaning the Glass. But because it denies most of them coming from the corner, the Clippers give up the third-lowest shooting percentage on those, making the trade-off worthwhile.
Phoenix, however, has good enough shooters that above-the-break triples become more problematic and it sure was early. The Suns began the game 10-of-15 from 3 to go up 10, and four of those makes actually came from the corners because of the Suns’ strong ball movement.
Booker was the tip of the spear in this, which is always when the Suns are at their best. Booker has infamously annihilated Lue’s defenses in two separate postseasons, so there’s some familiarity there too that probably helps.
The Suns were relentless in targeting James Harden to put him on the ball at the beginning of most of these possessions, the free switches L.A. bizarrely gives up. Phoenix triggered its passing all night off the Clippers’ rotations to go 22-for-47 (46.8%) from 3-point range. The 14 in the first half tied a season high, as did 22 overall.
“We generated open looks all game,” Durant said. “It felt like we could have made 10 more 3s with all the open looks we got.”
Tyus Jones (5 3PM), Booker (5 3PM), Grayson Allen (4 3PM), Durant (4 3PM) and Royce O’Neale (3 3PM) accounted for 21 of those.
“Keep shooting it,” Booker said of reaching 47 attempts. “Everybody shot it well tonight but still encouraging if we come out and shoot blanks, still have to get ’em up. … The recipe is out there. I’m not saying shoot all 3s — I know people are having a hard time adjusting to that. But good ball movement also usually leads to a 3 too.”
The Suns gave up 24 points off their 17 turnovers but were able to balance that out enough with 18 points off the Clippers’ 15 turnovers. Phoenix winning second-chance points 18-14 is a nod to the energy that was there all night.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds and four assists while Norman Powell added 23 points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals. Those two are what continue to elevate L.A. beyond just relying on two stars. This was just a solid Harden performance and Kawhi Leonard couldn’t finish the game after reaching 28 minutes with 5:32 remaining.
Suns center Nick Richards has no doubt played well through five games but he also has a ton to pick up on over the next few weeks that will truly determine how impactful he can be. That issue was on display when he didn’t close the game, putting Mason Plumlee on the floor for the majority of the fourth quarter, and Richards only played six minutes in the second half.
Playing in a losing situation as a more inexperienced player like Richards did in Charlotte to begin his career was more about building up the right habits as opposed to the air-tight execution that turns average teams into great ones. There are tiny details way above our pay-grade in this space that coaches are constantly reinforcing to Richards through a game, with a test like the Clippers providing good minutes to work through it.
That’s things like screening angles, timing on his rolls, the precise positioning of his drop defensively and much more. Plumlee has that stuff down as a long-time veteran so he rightfully had the trust of the coaching staff for crunch time. Richards had a handful of mistakes in his first shift that included three turnovers and two fouls, but through that, made a few energy plays. While that’s not going to offset the negatives, he will have to stick with it through his high motor as the intricacies begin coming more naturally.
O’Neale started in place of Ryan Dunn (left ankle sprain). Bradley Beal remained in a role off the bench.
