Suns Down Depleted Clippers for Clutch Game 3 Victory
The Phoenix Suns notched a 129-124 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers to snag Game 3 on the road.
It was an important win that puts Phoenix up 2-1 over Los Angeles. According to Land of Basketball, teams who take a 2-1 advantage win the series nearly 80% of the time.
Devin Booker led the way with 45, which led all players.
He reached his 15th career 30+ point postseason game, which tied Amar'e Stoudemire for the second-most in franchise history. Charles Barkley leads the way with 16. Tonight was his fifth 40+ point game in the postseason and he came just short of his career high of 47.
Still without Paul George, the Clippers shocked everybody in the hours leading up to the game when they revealed that Kawhi Leonard (sprained knee) would miss tonight's action. He reportedly suffered the injury in Game 1 and played through the pain in Game 2.
Prior to the game, Clippers coach Ty Lue spoke with reporters and was asked what hurt Los Angeles in Game 2:
"I think the biggest thing that's hurt us is their ability to play 46 minutes Booker and KD. When we was getting Kawhi out, trying to get some rest, they still had KD and Book on the floor, which posed some problems for us. We've just got to figure out a way to kind of slow that down a little bit," said Lue.
The Suns struggled out of the gate, exchanging short leads with the Clippers mostly thanks to the heroic performance of Norman Powell, who finished the night with a team-high 40 points. He and Russell Westbrook combined for 72.
Bones Hyland had 20 points off the bench for Los Angeles while Phoenix's bench scored 18 combined.
Phoenix eventually built their lead up to 13 points in the second half, but the Clippers maintained their high intensity on both sides of the ball to eventually draw the lead to three points with under two minutes to play.
However, the Suns eventually held on and squeaked out the victory in the final seconds.
Phoenix griped about late-season officiating but nearly doubled the amount of free throw attempts the Clippers had 46-25.
Every starter in the Suns' starting lineup scored in double digits. Kevin Durant finished with 28 points and Deandre Ayton notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Game 4 will be back at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday, April 22 at 12:30 PM PST.
