In a Battle of the Big Threes,
the Los Angeles Clippers prevailed over the Phoenix Suns, 138-111,
in a star-studded match-up on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena in
downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles’ Kawhi Leonard, Paul
George and James Harden combined for 61 points in the Clippers’
victory, while Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley
Beal finished with 65 points in the losing effort.
The game was close through the
first three quarters, featuring eight lead changes and ties. The
Suns only trailed by 8 points at the half, and then 10 coming into
the fourth quarter (and Durant even cut the lead down to just 7
with a pull-up three).
However, that was the closest
Phoenix could get as the Clippers opened the floodgates to turn a
tight game into a blowout. Leonard, Harden, Norman Powell and
Daniel Theis connected on a series of baskets, unleashing a 15-2
run in the first two minutes of the fourth to break the game wide
open.
The Clippers dominated the
fourth quarter of this game despite being on the second night of a
back-to-back, losing to the neighboring Los Angeles Lakers just a
night ago. They controlled the boards (49 rebounds to the Suns’ 32)
and assists (32 to the Suns’ 17) and shot 62% from the
floor.
The Clippers have now won six of
their last seven games (and 15 of their last 18). They are
currently holding the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference with a
23-13 record, and they sit just two games behind the third-seeded
Denver Nuggets.
For the Suns, Durant, Booker and
Beal have just played five games together and they’re continuing to
get on the same page as Phoenix fell to 19-18, which is the
ninth-best record in the West.
