Die Los Angeles Clippers (42-20) can join the Phoenix Suns (35-25) take revenge for the bitter home bankruptcy in December and win with 104:96 (BOXSCORE). After a weak first half it was above all Matt Barneswhich put the Clippers back in the game and eventually to their fifth straight win.
The 33-year-old hit 12 of his 17 shots from the field (4/7 3FG) and scored a new season best with 28 points. Especially at the beginning of the second half, he made sure with 16 points that the Clippers came back after a weak first half.
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Barnes received support from Blake Griffin (22 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists), DeAndre Jordan (10 points and 17 rebounds) and Darren Collison (18 points, 5 assists). Chris Paul got on the other hand a bad evening and only got 12 points (4/14 FG) and 5 turnovers, but still gave 9 assists. Danny Granger made a very unremarkable debut and only managed 4 minutes of action.
The Suns, on the other hand, collapsed completely in the third quarter after a strong first half (37:18 for Los Angeles) and could not really recover from it. The best performances still showed P.J. Tucker (18 points and 10 rebounds) and especially the bench players.
They were able to win the duel against the Clippers with 37:12 and were defeated by Marcus Morris with 12 points (5/9 FG). The good Leandro Barbosa had to leave the game at half-time suspected of a broken hand.
The reactions:
Matt Barnes (L.A. Clippers): “Blake and Chris aren’t going to be able to pull it together every night. We’re a very deep team and we’ve shown that lately.”
Goran Dragic (Phoenix Suns): “In the third quarter they played a bit more physical, especially on defense. We didn’t get any open shots. They just played hard defense, so that’s what we should have done.”
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The SPOX feature film:
Before tip off:
Without J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford The Clippers line up with Chris Paul, Darren Collison, Matt Barnes, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Suns coach Jeff Hornacek has to be on the other side Miles Plumlee waive. stands for that Alex Lenaccompanied by Goran Dragic, Gerald GreenPJ Tucker and Channing Fryefor the first time in his career in the starting lineup.
5.: The Suns have now put their 8th throw in a row to the ring. Things are not going well for one of the best attacking teams in the league – 10:5 Clippers.
9.: Things are still not going much better for Phoenix. Not only do they miss their throws, now they also give up the Spalding lightly – 5 turnovers and 20:14 for Los Angeles.
12.: Now the Suns are rolling. With an 11:2 run, Phoenix, led by Marus Morris (6 points, 2/3 FG), fights back into the game and even takes the lead – 25:24 Suns.
18.: Both teams have meanwhile leveled off at around 40 percent. So far, however, the game has not offered any real highlights. At least it’s balanced and exciting – 34:31 Phoenix.
21.: Gerald Green finally hits his first three of the game. After the Suns scored 15 more goals from downtown against Atlanta, the team is at 2/7 today. But Lob City hasn’t gotten a chance either – 37:42 Suns.
24.: At the end of the first half, Phoenix starts another run and extends the lead to 11 points. Shortly before the end, Chris Paul discards a relatively open threesome. Significant for his performance today: Only 7 points at 3/9 from the field and 4 turnovers – 55:44 Suns.
29.: Matt Barnes is on fire! The 33-year-old already has 16 points – in the second half alone! He now has a total of 26 points (season high) and single-handedly brings the Clippers back up – only 66:64 Suns!
34.: We now see more fouls on both sides, the game is getting rougher and more physical. That’s an advantage for the Clippers, who already scored 29 points and conceded only 14 in the third quarter – 72:69 Clippers.
39.: The Clippers hit 75 percent in the second half from the field! Willie Green does not want to be the exception and sinks the wide open threesome. The Clippers are slowly pulling away from the Suns – 88:75.
42.: Nothing has been decided here yet! The Suns start an 11-0 run, this time led by the other Morris, Markieff. The Clippers’ 15-point lead melts and melts – 90:86 Los Angeles.
46.: Gerald Green heats up at just the right time. But after two threes in a row he is lucky: The Spalding jumps back and forth on the ring three times before sliding through the trap. But on the other hand, Griffin again provides a 5-point lead – 99:94 Clippers.
48.: The Suns can’t close their lead and the Clippers easily bring the game home from the free throw line. It’s not a matter of course either. The Clippers win 104-96.
Phoenix Suns vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Click here for the BOXSCORE
The star of the game: Matt Barnes. The 33-year-old came out of the dressing room extremely hot and, with his 16 points right after the break, almost single-handedly gave the Clippers the lead. In the end there were 28 points, 6 rebounds with fabulous shot quotas in the box score. Barnes hit 12 of his 17 shots and made 4 of his 7 threes. Very strong performance!
The flop of the game: Glen Davis. Not a few experts suspected that Glen Davis will have an enormous impact on the Clippers team. He only had that against the Suns on the foul statistics. The 28-year-old was able to show a total of 4 fouls in just 9 minutes of play. No points, only 1 rebound, 1 assist, but 2 turnovers. After all: Nobody complains as nicely as Big Baby!
This stood out:
- After a weak start, it was the Suns’ bench that brought the hosts back into the game. Led by Marcus Morris (10 points, 4/6 FG), Phoenix won the duel between the bench players 20:3 after the first half. The plus-minus values of the actors were particularly impressive. Morris stood out at +19 at half-time, as did Leandro Barbosa (+12). At the Clippers, Glen Davis was -12 and Willie Green was -10.
- Alex Len would probably have imagined his first appearance in the Starting Five a little differently. Although it started quite well for the 20-year-old with an offensive rebound and subsequent points, even the lay-ups didn’t want to sit properly after that (a total of 3/8 FG). In addition, the Spalding often slipped out of his hand or he couldn’t catch it properly. So sometimes he cut a rather unlucky figure, but at least showed good effort.
- Dedication is a good keyword. Although the shot didn’t fall at the beginning (maybe that’s why), the Suns fought for every ball and sprinted up and down the field. Phoenix also knew how to convince on the board and got 16 offensive rebounds. This resulted in 15 second chance points after the first 24 minutes – the Clippers only had 6.
- Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan were down at halftime with just 13 points and only 5 of 13 out of the field thanks to the Suns’ good defense. The Big Men of Phoenix didn’t let the Clippers’ powerhouses push them around the zone and made life extremely difficult for the two. Griffin then rarely pulled aggressively to the basket, but rather tried his jumper – but mostly without success.
- In the second half of the game, however, the Clippers really turned up the heat. Meanwhile, they had hit 75 percent of their throws from the field and Griffin hit again (7/11 FG in the 2nd half) And all this, although Chris Paul didn’t have a good evening. The elite point guard only scored 12 points at low odds (4/12 FG) and lost the spalding 5 times. After all, he distributed a good 9 assists, but he can thank his colleagues for the win.
Results and schedule at a glance