Game 51: Phoenix Suns (36-14) @ Los Angeles Clippers (34-18) l Thursday l 7:00pm l TNT

[Kerrsed]

Amazing how one troll on the GB exposes all those who are scared of the Suns. We doing big thangs baby because the hate is REAL! CP3 was a guy that people loved, hoped he would win a ring......or at least thats what they said, now that he is with us and we are 2nd in the league, all of a sudden CP3 haters EVERYWHERE! Fans from all different western conference teams quick to jump into the Game Thread talking all their s**t. LMAO.

[Revived]

Thankfully if the suns play the clippers in the playoffs george will choke the series away.

Exactly. This game is actually good news for us. If Clippers need Paul George to go off like this to beat us when we’re tired as hell off an OT back to back, that’s actually good news for us.

Any team relying on George won’t get very far in the playoffs period.

[SunsRback4Good]

Guys if you avoid looking at the standings we are still 36-14 and on an 7 game winning streak.

[RingColluder]

As a Clippers fan, you guys have a hell of a squad.

Booker is tremendously underrated, and Ayton is unguardable.

There is no other matchup that would be tougher than playing you guys, so impressed after you went to OT on a back to back playing us like that.

On the downside, Saric looked horrible so hopefully y'all keep playing him

Great game! I'm sure we'll see more of you in the future.

[grumpysaddle]

As a Clippers fan, you guys have a hell of a squad.

Booker is tremendously underrated, and Ayton is unguardable.

There is no other matchup that would be tougher than playing you guys, so impressed after you went to OT on a back to back playing us like that.

On the downside, Saric looked horrible so hopefully y'all keep playing him

Great game! I'm sure we'll see more of you in the future.

After a 10 game beast showing when Dario first came back from injury, he's since been more like Sorry-o Daric. We really need him to figure it out again.

[lilfishi22]

Thankfully if the suns play the clippers in the playoffs george will choke the series away.

Exactly. This game is actually good news for us. If Clippers need Paul George to go off like this to beat us when we’re tired as hell off an OT back to back, that’s actually good news for us.

Any team relying on George won’t get very far in the playoffs period.

In the other thread I made about the teams that worry me, I didn't even bring up the Clippers. This game showed me nothing for us to worry about. Not saying they can't beat us but they just don't worry me all that much.

[RingColluder]

As a Clippers fan, you guys have a hell of a squad.

Booker is tremendously underrated, and Ayton is unguardable.

There is no other matchup that would be tougher than playing you guys, so impressed after you went to OT on a back to back playing us like that.

On the downside, Saric looked horrible so hopefully y'all keep playing him

Great game! I'm sure we'll see more of you in the future.

After a 10 game beast showing when Dario first came back from injury, he's since been more like Sorry-o Daric. We really need him to figure it out again.

Your backup PG Payne? looked sorta inconsistent, but also made some nice plays. But yeah Dario looked horrendous and that's against Zu who kinda sucks.

But yeah, this is the scariest team for my Clippers to face by far. Well done, I'd give coach of the year to Monty right now.

[Kerrsed]

Look, we took on and beat the leagues best team just last night in an overtime win before flying to LA to take on the leagues 3rd best team who have been sitting at home well rested for the past 2 days. Despite missing our usually pretty solid 3 point shooting, we stayed with them neck-and-neck until we finally gassed midway through the 4th. No shame in that whatsoever. Next game against them is in just 20 days and its not a back-to-back (We play the Knicks 2 days before hand).

Our starters played great. Ayton was wrecking Zubac to a point where i dont think he played any minutes after halftime. Booker amazingly had ZERO turnovers. CP3 was a bit slowed down and a step behind, which is expected for a guy his age after playing a tough intense overtime win against the leagues best team less than 24 hours beforehand. Bridges redeemed himself after having a bad start to the game. Crowders defense was on point. Zero points, but he only took 2 shots, but his impact was felt in every other facet of the game.

I think the two biggest things that cost us this game was our 3pt shooting and the bench play. Guys just didnt have the lift in their legs to hit the 3. From a combo of last night and exerting themselves on defense, we couldnt buy a 3. 6 total for us while LAC hit 18. Thats HUGE. And then we have the Bench. Saric was god awful. Pull Ayton and insert him and it became a 8 point swing within a minute or two. His 2 TO's are a lie. it was more like 5 or 6. I consider 2 of those limp shots 3 feet away that barely touched the rim turnovers. Cam Johnson played solid. Cam Payne was just so-so. Craig played fine on defense, but passed on some pretty open shots making other shoot tougher more covered shots.

Overall, its a loss i can live with. Still the 2nd best team in the League. Still ahead of the Clippers. On to the next one and restart the streak!

[grumpysaddle]

As a Clippers fan, you guys have a hell of a squad.

Booker is tremendously underrated, and Ayton is unguardable.

There is no other matchup that would be tougher than playing you guys, so impressed after you went to OT on a back to back playing us like that.

On the downside, Saric looked horrible so hopefully y'all keep playing him

Great game! I'm sure we'll see more of you in the future.

After a 10 game beast showing when Dario first came back from injury, he's since been more like Sorry-o Daric. We really need him to figure it out again.

Your backup PG Payne? looked sorta inconsistent, but also made some nice plays. But yeah Dario looked horrendous and that's against Zu who kinda sucks.

But yeah, this is the scariest team for my Clippers to face by far. Well done, I'd give coach of the year to Monty right now.

Really like the Rondo pickup, and it's weird to say he's one of the most likeable players on the Clippers (I like Kawhi, but the personalities of the rest of the team get under my skin). Clippers super talented for sure, though. I'm more nervous about a Clippers meeting in playoffs than pretty much every other team. I think Suns can take Lakers if they can stop one of Lebron or AD. Denver is the other team I'm worried about, outside of Clippers.

Payne's also been inconsistent, but better than anyone thought he'd be. He really just needs to hold it together for a few minutes while the starters rest. Some games, he's been able to build leads quickly against opposing teams benches. Overall, though, I'm happy with his performance so far.

[Kerrsed]

As a Clippers fan, you guys have a hell of a squad.

Booker is tremendously underrated, and Ayton is unguardable.

There is no other matchup that would be tougher than playing you guys, so impressed after you went to OT on a back to back playing us like that.

On the downside, Saric looked horrible so hopefully y'all keep playing him

Great game! I'm sure we'll see more of you in the future.

GG!

It was a tough game! Its been awhile since we have had a good squad, loved how intense the game was tonight. Would love for there to be a Suns/Clippers rivalry to replace the Suns/Lakers/Spurs 3 some of the Nash era. And it looks like it may stay this way so as long as we have Booker and you guys have PG! Cant wait to face you guys in the playoffs, its going to be a battle! See you guys again in 20 days for another banger on ESPN.

[RingColluder]

After a 10 game beast showing when Dario first came back from injury, he's since been more like Sorry-o Daric. We really need him to figure it out again.

Your backup PG Payne? looked sorta inconsistent, but also made some nice plays. But yeah Dario looked horrendous and that's against Zu who kinda sucks.

But yeah, this is the scariest team for my Clippers to face by far. Well done, I'd give coach of the year to Monty right now.

Really like the Rondo pickup, and it's weird to say he's one of the most likeable players on the Clippers (I like Kawhi, but the personalities of the rest of the team get under my skin). Clippers super talented for sure, though. I'm more nervous about a Clippers meeting in playoffs than pretty much every other team. I think Suns can take Lakers if they can stop one of Lebron or AD. Denver is the other team I'm worried about, outside of Clippers.

I haven't been a fan at all of PG for a while (trust me or look at old GT's not he Clippers board lol) but since Rondo has come he has looked way better not being a PG. The Rondo move has improved our team tremendously, whereas before I was seriouly thinking we could be a first round exit. Still a lot of time but a lot of this is dependent on matchups.

Also scared of the Mavs (who like the Suns have a strong SG and a dominant big man) but other than that not too concerned besides lakers.

[sunsbg]

What's up with not playing Galloway and Moore. The team needs bench scoring, 3pt shooting and resting CP3 and those still don't get any minutes.

[lilfishi22]

What's up with not playing Galloway and Moore. The team needs bench scoring, 3pt shooting and resting CP3 and those still don't get any minutes.

It is baffling. I mentioned in the GT yesterday that we should be looking down the bench in this game because our starters had played so many minutes in an OT game. I get that guys like Book, Bridges, Ayton and Cam have young legs and they played admirably today but I don't get why we wouldn't go down the bench to play guys like Gallo and Moore to give guys more of a breather when they are available.

Jones brought in those guys exactly for this reason.

[Revived]

Thankfully if the suns play the clippers in the playoffs george will choke the series away.

Exactly. This game is actually good news for us. If Clippers need Paul George to go off like this to beat us when we’re tired as hell off an OT back to back, that’s actually good news for us.

Any team relying on George won’t get very far in the playoffs period.

In the other thread I made about the teams that worry me, I didn't even bring up the Clippers. This game showed me nothing for us to worry about. Not saying they can't beat us but they just don't worry me all that much.

I think they would beat us because their “star” players will simply get way more calls and favorable officiating than we would as a super young team (besides CP3) that’s in the playoffs for the first time.

I wouldn’t count us out for winning a series with them but even if we lose, I think we would for sure push them to at least 6 or 7 games.

[Frank Lee]

Galloway should have played. He’s a flamethrower any given night...

I really don’t understand Montys in game thoughts

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

[lilfishi22]

Galloway should have played. He’s a flamethrower any given night...

I really don’t understand Montys in game thoughts

Especially on the 2nd night of a B2B when the rest of the team is 6 for 24 from range.

[SlovenianDragon]

Galloway should have played. He’s a flamethrower any given night...

I really don’t understand Montys in game thoughts

Monty said during the in game interview he wanted to play point 5 and that's when Dario was in and was really bad.

[pj0tr]

Galloway should have played. He’s a flamethrower any given night...

I really don’t understand Montys in game thoughts

Monty said during the in game interview he wanted to play point 5 and that's when Dario was in and was really bad.

Monty threw out a small ball lineup of Paul/Book/Bridges/Johnson/Crowder, but it was a little too late.

That's the lineup to throw out there (or Craig at the 5) when the Clippers go really small without Zubac, which they pretty much did for the entire 4th Q.

The Nets did the same thing to Phoenix for the majority of the 2nd half when Phoenix blew the 24 point lead.

Teams are literally running their offense to get matchups with Dario. Granted, if Dario even plays remotely average, this is probably a 1 possession game at the end. He had several travels and blown shots around the rim.

[Mr Puddles]

Can't be too upset about this loss. Suns clearly didn't have their legs under them after the intense OT game against the clippers.

The Clippers were hitting ridiculous three-pointers too while the Suns couldn't buy a three-pointer to save their lives.

The Clippers are not going to go 18-37 from three-point land every night, and the Suns are not going to go 6-24. I liked how close the Suns kept it despite having everything going against them.

it is kind of concerning that they were hot from 3 in both games we played them. and they have a **** of great shooters it seems. we gotta do something to counter this in the playoffs should we meet them.

I mean, a LOT of the 3s tonight were well defended. They just couldn't miss. Still only 2 games out of a ton of games. It happens.

This, and also up to the 4th quarter when the Suns ran out of steam we were getting our 2 point shots off pretty easily as well as get into the paint. I mean, the Clippers shooting lights out is one thing, but the Suns were uncharacteristically bad and it was still a back and forth game for the most part.

In the playoffs, I'll put my money on the team that can mix it up between 2s and 3s and doesn't have to live and die by the 3. Again, if either the Clippers had shot their season average from 3 or the Suns had shot their season average this would have been a different game. It's just that both things happened, the Clippers were lights out and the Suns couldn't hit Rihanna with Chris Brown's fist.