The Phoenix Suns have had an up-and-down season so far, sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference. It’s not a bad position, but unfortunately, once the matches to move up the rankings start to decline, they will have to rely on results elsewhere to move up the rankings. That’s probably why they watched Wednesday night’s nationally televised game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers with such interest. The Lakers wore the Suns’ jersey numbers at the beginning of the season, but after two consecutive wins over LeBron James and others, the Suns turned things around. Bringing back the Lakers was exactly what the Suns were hoping for, as the Clippers have more pressing and thorny issues to solve.
In James’ return game — during which he beat the Clippers 19-16 in the biggest fourth-quarter comeback of his career — the Lakers won their final game before the Clippers returned home this summer. ”. You would think this would be a problem for the Suns. In the end, the Lakers closed the gap on their Valley rivals, leaving them just four games behind in the loss column after the win, which was exactly what the Suns were looking for. The Clippers lost their second straight game, and the Suns fell from a 37-20 lead to 34-24.
The Suns won’t play the Lakers again this season, but in their most recent win over the Lakers, they introduced a new feature that had some success and contributed to the win. At one point in the first quarter, Kevin Durant, Jusuf Nurkic and Bol Bol were on the court together. Nurkic’s combination of length and muscle presents a problem for the Lakers not previously seen with the Suns. Durant was able to hold his own against James at times, and Nurkic played against Davis, allowing Bol to freestyle with poor defense and forcing players like Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell on the perimeter. I shut it down. This tactic alone won’t help the Suns beat the Lakers in the series, but head coach Frank Vogel will be very happy with the results when these three players play together. However, it is now very likely that the Suns will face the Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, and they still have two games left against the Suns in the regular season. The fourth and third games of this season’s finals will be consecutive home and away games. A key matchup that could determine which of both teams gets home court advantage at the start of the playoffs.
The Clippers looked like a runaway train early in the season. They are arguably a better, more cohesive group than the Suns, and the James Harden trade paid off in spades. However, Paul George missed the loss to the Lakers and, like Bradley Beal, who has played only 30 games this season, tends to miss games when he really needs to. Over the past five games, the Clippers have a fielding percentage of 119.3, fifth-worst in the league. Admittedly the sample is small, but it’s proof that he’s available over seven games in the series. Of course, if Paul goes down, Durant and Devin Booker will likely take turns blaming Harden on that side of the court. Not surprisingly, the Suns also rank 13th in points scored over the same period (112.3) as Vogel continues to figure out the best way to utilize players like Nurkic and Bol. The Suns have the toughest schedule in the league, while the Clippers themselves are ranked 11th and have lost four of their last six games. Next: 3 reasons why the Suns were wrong to trade Bradley Beal
They are scheduled to play the Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks twice between now and March 13, when the Suns could come at them again. The Lakers have struggled this season, but James’ work has allowed them to beat better teams. The Suns have two players in Durant and Booker who can always do the same thing against the Clippers, knowing that shooters like Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal can also pose a challenge. There is. Add in a formidable trio that has had so much success in a small sample size, and the Lakers not only did the Suns a favor by defeating the Clippers, but they may have provided a blueprint for future wins.
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