Sin Kawhi Leonard y James Harden In contention, the Clippers pulled off a magical first quarter to lay the foundations for an important victory in Phoenix with a Russell Westbrook stellar.
Westbrook started due to Harden’s loss and took advantage of it in a formidable way. The point guard, who Tyronn Lue has been underused throughout the season, he has responded wonderfully to the challenge of taking command of the Harden-absent team.
Russ finished the game with 16 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists, which was his first triple-double of the season and the 199th of his NBA career.
He hasn’t been alone. Paul George He has scored 23 points, Ivica Zubac He finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Terance Mann with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 8 of 10 in shooting.
Clippers have not only survived the aforementioned losses of Leonard and Harden, but also the gray performance as starter of Norman Powell.
The first quarter was impressive, that 10-37 that left Phoenix on the brink of final disaster.
That first quarter ended with 2 of 19 shooting for the home team (10.5% accuracy) and 15 of 23 for the visitors (65.2%) and with 4 rebounds for the Suns to 21 for the Clippers. The Phoenix disaster is perfectly reflected in the first quarter of Kevin Durant: 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists and 0 of 5 shooting playing 10 minutes.
The 10-37 of the first 12 minutes gave way to an equally convincing 33-66 at halftime, with the big three made up of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker y Bradley Beal adding only 14 points with 4 of 25 on the field. George, Zubac and Westbrook (this one with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists at halftime) did what they wanted, with the help of players like Mann, Amir Coffey y Bones Hyland.
At halftime, the Suns’ 1 of 9 from three-point range contrasted with the 9 of 15 of the unstoppable Clippers.
Fortunately for the local fans, their team reacted after the break and showed dignity and pride.
That push from the team Frank Vogel It even led him to get very close on the scoreboard after a great recovery. The Suns made it 84-91 with 6:45 left. But it didn’t go any further, and the Clippers signed their fourth consecutive victory and their seventh win in the last 8 games despite finishing today’s game with 18 turnovers.
Phoenix also saw the Pelicans win, making things more complicated for them to avoid the play-in.
Did not play Jusuf Nurkic, and Kevin Durant (21 points) and Bradley Beal (19 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks) improved after the break. The one who didn’t raise his head much was Booker, who finished with 12 points and 1 of 11 shooting.
2024-04-10 05:52:56
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