Clippers fall to the Suns 109-111

percent eight of eleven from three in a quarter. I'm telling you, even in today's league, there's a lot more shooting if you left them all open, purposefully open gym stuff doesn't happen like that, but it did. And I think there's something too. The Sun's just feeling unusually confident against the Clippers because they had already beat them twice.

They had come back down nine under four minutes left in Game one of the season at into a Dome to win that one in overtime, and then they came back down twenty one the second game and into a Dome a week later on Halloween when they started the third quarter fifteen of fifteen from the field that was hotter than the center of the sun stuff tonight, still pretty hot outer layers. But the Clippers, Yeah, they're responsible for I think overhelping at times on Booker on KD

and those guys making the Clippers pay the others. Royce O'Neal got the start. He was very good. He ended up I think with three three pointers made. Yeah, he started like three of three, ended up three of eight. So he did cool off, but some of the damage was done. The Clippers were down after that hot shooting first quarter by the Phoenix Suns. The Clippers were down by only four. They were shooting well too, they were four of seven. They couldn't hang volume wise with the Suns.

The Suns ended up making twelve more threes in this game in the Clippers, and the Clippers still fought and had it to within one after a ten zero run late, even with the Suns getting thirty six more points off of three pointers. Now to counter that, the Clippers had sixty points in the paint, the Sun's just twenty four. That's how you do it. But I don't want to call it a fake comeback. But they just put themselves in a position because it wasn't This was a game.

It was not over, but they put themselves in a position where they had to be so perfect. After being down one o seven to ninety six with two forty three left in the fourth quarter, they go on the ten oh run norm three pointer Harden fouled on a three hits all three zubots detonates at the ram. Should have been an end one Norman Powell runner, the Clippers are down one. In fact, how quickly did that happen? I want to see the time span of this. So it's one oh seven to ninety six at the two

forty three mark. By the time it's one o seven to one oh six, there's forty seconds left. So the Clippers were able to pull that off in what was that like a minute forty five ten? I'll run it's crazy my time. Lord, math was probably bad there, but I love the fact they didn't quit when the finish line got closer. They played better. If they had some of that urgency earlier on, they probably crossed the finish line.

But my point about margin of error, when you're down like that late with the clock working against you, you have to be perfect. And unfortunately Norman Powell missed a free throw. He's been missed a fourth quarter. He's shooting over fifty from three and fourth quarters this year, just like he did last year, shooting well over fifty percent

from the field in fourth quarters. He's I think top five in points average in fourth quarters in the NBA, at over eight per game in the fourth quarter alone. He had just brought them to within one, but after James Harden fouled on the other end on Bradley Beal, Coach lu challenged it, and if you lose that, you're out of timeouts. They did it. I thought it was obvious they were gonna lose it. They did. Bradley Bual made both Clippers are down three. Coach Bud did the

right thing. They don't have a timeout. We're up three. I'm not gonna let them get a shot off to tie this game. So they fiuled Norman Powell with nineteen seconds left. Little smart. It was a great move. Norm misses the first. You gotta hit both to put pressure on Fee to have to hit both. He missed the first hit the second. Phoenix is still up by two. Clippers get into the foul game with Grayson Allen. He hits the next two Subots gets a dunk on the

other end, they foul Grayson Allen again. He intentionally misses the last free throw because there was just a second left and the Clippers didn't have a timeout to advance it. If they got the rebound anyways, then the Clippers lose one nine. I don't know if there was the proper urgency and intensity with rotations to start this game. I saw it in the second half. I saw the Clippers cleaning the glass through the second best defensive rebounding team

in the league to Milwaukee in the second half. After they gave up fifteen second chance points to Phoenix in the first half, just three in the second half. So they're more than capable of ending possessions. Obviously, that is a part of defense. They just didn't do it in the first half. The Clippers in the first half gave up sixty points and then the second half gave up fifty one. They were better. They won that third quarter

by eight, They won the fourth by three. Don't put yourself in too big of a hole over just kind of silly miscues out there with late rotations with I think overhelping at times. I mean, there was even while they were better overall in the second half with their defense.

They gave up a wide open three pointer and it was a big one to Devin Booker early in the fourth after Man just had a big dunk off a KPJ feed and Terrence Man got seven minutes in this game, and he's on the outs right now in the minutes crunch, he is the Sun's call time out, and somehow Kawhi and Norm got crossed up. It's worth this wasn't a lack of effort. This was a lack of communication. With this open three. I don't know who it was on,

and I'd have to see the play again. I think it might have been on Kauai, but he and Norm, both of them went somewhere else and just left d book for open for a straightaway three. Those are just silly mistakes, miscues for communication. Now, maybe that's just it's Kawhi's a eighth game. Some of that stuff is expected. He ended up having a bad turnover. This was the first fourth quarter he had played. He hit his first shot and he took in the fourth quarter this season.

That was good to see over like three defenders to start things off in the fourth his first fourth quarter minutes, he got to twenty eight. They bumped him up a little bit from twenty four to twenty eight. That's exactly what I thought it would be. At one point, for a second, I was getting greedy. I was like, are they gonna give him thirty. But I don't know if

this was fatigue or you just mishandle it. But Kawhi ended up having a turnover and the Suns had a run out for a layup to make it a ten point game at I think one oh two ninety two. Bad turnover. You don't normally see from him in a moment like that. He had just played great defense on KD who still somehow made this jumper on him. He did have a block on Booker that led to that man dunk off the KPJ feed like Kawhi's fingerprints, had a lay up before that. We're all over the fourth quarter.

He ended up with I think six points in the fourth, So baby steps forward. Kawhi is playing more minutes, different lineups, different rotations out there. Some of you guys are really going after KPJ in this one. I'll say there were a few times where I was frustrated where he's out there next to Avista, Zubats and Kawhi and he's taken the majority of the shots. I didn't like that, But I mean, he just had arguably his best game of the season against Milwaukee with doing a lot of the

little things. He was really good against Boston too, and they almost won that game that third quarter he had, So I'm not gonna be overly harsh, but yeah, I didn't think he was great in this one. Terrence missed a couple of wide open threes in his seven minutes when he got in in the fourth quarter. I get what coach Lee was doing. First of all, he doesn't trust his backup big. Second of all, they're getting killed with three pointers, so why not go small? Have more

switchability out there? And Terrence Man has been good on Devin Booker in his career. Kawhi did miss some really good looks from three. He did he was seven or fourteen still, but just one of five from three. The Clippers miss some good looks, but Kawhi, it's a few more, might be a different game. James Harden, of course, won five of ten, but the Clippers put themselves in this position where the late game execution had to be so perfect that Norm couldn't afford to leave that one point

out there at the charity stripe. Don't let it get to that point eight too long. I know Phoenix had their issues closing out games last season. They've been better so far this season kind of seemed like those demons were coming back to haunt them for a second. The Clippers defense, it was better when it needed to be, but I would say it needed to be better a little bit earlier as well. The third quarter, I do love what I saw there. The Clippers got back in a hurry like it was.

I thought that would happen. Norm had a beautiful feed to of eats of zoobots like he was James Harden going down I think the left side of the lane. He left it to Zoo for a two handed dunk. In the third and there was a turnover by the Suns and Kawhi missed a wide open three pointer as James Harden set him up beautifully in the far side corner. That was one of them that would have been big. But after Norm hit two free throws, the Clippers were down one. It was a fifteen to three run in

that third quarter start things off. The right energy and spirit was there coming out of the half. But Booker hit a three on Dereck Jones Junior that was definitely not wide open guys, to make it sixty no to sixty seven. It was an insane shot. See, the reason you can't let so many wide open threes happen is because there are going to be times against Phoenix where you give them zero airspace and they still hit them.

So you can't give me the easy ones because you know some of those tough shot, tough over the top jump shooting threes are going to happen from Booker and KD at some point, and that was one of them. That three was insane. DJ was right there. Then Zoo had ooh, just a filthy play going around plumbly for the reverse layup to make it sixty nine. All believe

that's a nice score. Booker then goes to the free throw line, Harden goes back KD jumper like there were so many times as Alan hit a three pointer to put him back up seventy six to seventy. I felt like the Clippers were gaining momentum and the Suns would hit a silencer shot, a momentum blunting type of shot, they would stem the tide. They made some big ones.

next less than ninety seconds the Suns are up. By Clippers were still there late, we'll talk more about it. Eight six six ninety seven two five seventy eight six six ninety seven two five seventy is the phone number I'm Ada Mouslin. After the Clippers lose in Phoenix, one eleven to one o nine to the Suns. You're listening to Clippers Hockey on the M five seven LA Sports. He throws it up, the window finishes in the fowl.

the YouTube. We'll get your phone calls coming up here. But I just saw this number because I've been talking about the Clippers coming into this game shooting just thirty three percent from three over the last ten games, and then tonight they shoot thirty one percent. Well, who had this, Miles Johnson? This is an interesting number. Over their last fifteen games, they're shooting basically thirty three percent on the dot, thirty two point nine percent to be specific. Ah, my

pedantic self is annoying my other self. So yeah, fifteen games of shooting well below league average, and I wonder what their record was over that time. They're eight and seven, well, shooting thirty two point nine percent from three for fifteen games. That tells you just how good their defense is. I don't know many teams that could shoot that poorly for that long and still have a winning record. Eight and seven. Kawhi looked fifty to fifty tight. He wasn't very assertive

early guys. His first I think his first points came off that dunk in the second quarter where it looked like he had hurt his hip or his hamstring. That was at the nine to forty five mark of the second He had the dunk where he blew by Mason Plumbley after a steal. I was concerned because it looked like it happened not even when he landed, but like what he was going up I think. But then he played through it and looked solid. He went for that

tough reverse layup in the second half. Couldn't get it. Well, here's here's my problem. I like, I've already pointed this out many times Vintage, So you can't leave KD, book, Royce Beale, and Grayson wide open expect the a miss. It's like, well, they don't shoot one hundred percent on wide open threes, none of those guys. You average it out, they probably shoot something like forty five percent. Those players

on wide open threes are on open threes. First of all, katiean Book, weren't the guys that were being left open? And Royce Beale Allen sure the suns, even with the amount of open threes they got, they still hit them at a higher rate than you normally hit open threes at that that's my point. I'm not happy about the open threes either. I'm just saying even with that, they

still had just an incredible shooting night. Some of that is on the Clippers, though, of course they have to be better because you know, Booker and KD are gonna hit shots that you can't defend, shots that there's nothing you can do about it. Let's go to tags and Walnut tageous here on Clipper stop with out of Maza and what's up.

You know, it might take another month before we see the Clippers, you know, fully oiled and and like the you know, a fine too machine, like a fine two car. But you know, when you look at last year and I was comparing contrast to the last year's team to this year's team, there was a for a good amount of games where the Clippers last year, you know, they

were playing on the string. Everyone knew what they were doing, and everyone had them as title contenders, everyone from the natcial media and we all thought, you know, they have a chance to win it all. And when I compare and contrast, the two teams defensively were better than last year's team by far.

Powell and Westbrook at times, but mostly Powell. When he came off the bench, he provided you know, that that six male role here, we're kind of we get it. Sometimes we don't, but overall we you know, offensively, once we have Kawhi back, you know, playing like an MVP, we have I think even more weapons offensively than we

did last year. As far as with Cowell and Zubac with their roles being increased now, I think that it's just going to take time and Coach Lou's gonna have to find those rotations where maybe he's gonna need to leave Zoo two of the big four in the game at the same time and go about it that way. But I think overall, that's why I'm encouraged, because I don't see a whole lot of you know, like where we've set back from last year to this year. I think our ceiling could even be higher. It's going to

take time and everyone needs to play together. And the biggest thing is the role players. We can't have done and Darry Jones both shooting poorly, especially when you go into the playoffs.

the fifth or sixth seed. They they at the right time, they all clicked and they played so well and they made it to the final.

Quick time out, will come back. More Clippers stock here on the M five seventy LA Sports.

three pointers. Clippers beat them up in the paint, but from the outside, the Sons were special tonight, Clippers defensively were not good enough. At La Murray the NU there's some Kawhi Leonard's sound there if we could go to that, I do want you to hear from Kawhi. In fourteen minutes on the floor together, Law Murray said, the Clippers starting five man lineup of Harden, Powell, Derek Jones, Junior Leonard and Zubots outscored the Sons thirty nine to twenty four.

So their five man's starting lineup did outscore them. All other Clippers lineups were outscored eighty seven to seventy in the other thirty four minutes. And here was La Murray asking Kawhi what needs to be better from the bench lineups?

Antonio Spurs makeup. Clippers lose by two in Phoenix. They will be in San Antonio coming up next on Wednesday. More on that as well. I'm Ota Maslans and you're listening to Clippers dock here on a five to seven. Other sports throws it up.

thirty seven and eight second. The Rockets had a big win tonight in Boston thirty one and fourteen, thirty one and sixteen record at at three, Grizzlies fourth, the Nuggets holding steady twenty eight and eighteen fifth place, twenty six and eighteen record the Clipper they had Lakers excuse me, Lakers twenty six and twenty are the Clippers at sixth, seventh of the Wolves twenty five and twenty one Phoenix

Suns to one tonight over. The Clippers are in eighth, twenty four and twenty one, ninth Dallas Mavericks twenty five and twenty two. And rounding out your playing situation, the Kings, who are now two games above five hundred and twenty four and twenty two.

Our producer here in the bank, that would be Daniel West Elite Sastition, Chris Taylor appreciates you, the callers, the listeners, the chatters. We'll talk to you guys on Wednesday, Clippers in San Antonio four pm. Is your pregame show? Talk to you then?