Suns React to Eye-Opening Loss vs Clippers

The Suns shot a season low from the field against the Clippers.

Feb 1, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) against Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks (3) in the first half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns (30-20) could not find the same offense they had the last couple games and had their three-game win streak snapped by the Los Angeles Clippers (23-25) with a 117-93 blowout loss Sunday night.

Down Devin Booker (right ankle sprain) and Jalen Green (left hip contusion/right hamstring injury management), Phoenix shot a season-low 33.3% from the field despite converting 19-of-46 (41.3%) of their 3-point shots.

This translated into the Suns only going 9-for-34 (26.5%) inside the paint on the night.

"We obviously got good looks from three and a good amount of 3s up," Suns guard Grayson Allen said postgame. "I think in the paint, maybe try to get a little bit more at the rim. I know they dominated the paint tonight. But a lot of those paint twos that we shot, a lot of Dillon's (Brooks) looks are the looks he's been taking all year and making all year, so just off a little bit from there.

"But I felt like talking about the energy, I felt like I could have carried over offensively too, where we just put them in a few more closeouts, get a few more actions, few more drives probably create some easier looks."

Clippers' Size Overpowers Suns

With the Clippers down James Harden due to personal reasons, their size proved way too much for the Suns to handle, as they won the points in the paint 64-18 and outrebounded Phoenix 63-35 with 20 of these rebounds coming from Ivica Zubac, who also had 14 points on perfect 5-for-5 shooting.

"Their physicality, their size, overwhelmed us at times," Suns coach Jordan Ott said. "We got to use our speed the best we can, couldn't it out in transition when you're taking it out of the net so often or after free throws. Their size really impacted us, for sure, really on both ends.

"Defensively, they are as good as anyone defensively. When you play against them in the half court, you can't move them with an elite on ball defender in (Kris) Dunn. And then offensively, they just threw the ball inside, and when they didn't get it inside, they threw it up on the glass. When they didn't do that, they got fouled and went to the free-throw line. So yeah, their size hurts for sure.”

Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 25 points (9-20 FG), eight rebounds and five assists, while Allen finished with a team-high 23 points and eight assists for the Suns.

Overall, this was a really weird box score given the Suns' shooting numbers and the fact that Phoenix forced 18 L.A. turnovers and only had five of its own.

"People see what we're doing, so they're going to come in here and know that and play well, and we'll respond," Ott said. "We'll respond. We just don't want to lose the lessons that we can see because there's so many different styles of play across the league, This is obviously the last time we play these guys.

"We still got to learn. And I think that's some of it. Like our youthful bigs, as a part of it, they got to feel it. They got to feel a portion of this, whether that changes from now to the end of the season, but there's a summer, there's another year. So those bigs are physical. I think some of that's going to help us going down the road."

The Suns will attempt to put this loss behind them when they travel to play the Portland Trail Blazers (23-27) Tuesday night and hope for good news regarding Booker and Green's injuries.