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    • What we learned about the Phoenix Suns after their opening OT win over the Clippers
    Michigan

    What we learned about the Phoenix Suns after their opening OT win over the Clippers

    Caradoc Wyn Posted on

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    INGLEWOOD — The Los Angeles Clippers wanted to win their historic regular-season opening game at their new $2 billion Intuit Dome, but the Phoenix Suns just had to ruin it all.

    The Suns didn’t play a flawless game, losing Devin Booker to fouls in regulation time, but earned a 116-113 overtime victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night in front of 18,300 fans.

    Kevin Durant scored 25 points and Bradley Beal scored 24 when his 3-pointer with 3:44 left in overtime gave Phoenix the lead for good.

    Durant played 44 minutes and forced OT with a tough, contested fadeaway throw with 21.2 seconds left in regulation after the Suns trailed by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter. He also took on the challenge of guarding James Harden down the stretch.

    Harden had a chance to force a second overtime, but missed the second of two free throws with 4.8 seconds left and the Suns remained at a one-point lead.

    Jusuf Nurkic was fouled on the rebound and shot two free throws against “The Wall” with three seconds left, making the difference to three. Harden then turned the ball over to end the game.

    Without Kawhi Leonard, who is out with knee problems, Harden scored a game-high 29 points on 28 shot attempts.

    Here are four takeaways from Wednesday’s win, when the Suns blew a 14-point lead, scored 23 points on 22 turnovers and were outrebounded 51-42, but still won the game.

    The Clippers also had 22 turnovers, which led to 16 Phoenix points.

    Play the Suns physically

    Most teams don’t have the Clippers’ mentality of playing hard, physical and clutch, which puts the game in the hands of the referee.

    Since the stripes didn’t set the tone, it literally played right in the Clippers’ hands.

    It took the Suns essentially three quarters to really get going and find their offense, even though they led by as many as 14 points. The Clippers’ inability, particularly Harden, to make a shot in the first half resulted in this lead in Phoenix’s favor.

    The Suns are already smaller with Tyus Jones, Beal and Booker in the three-guard look. If Jusuf Nurkic gets into foul trouble like he did on Wednesday, they will become smaller.

    The Suns finished the fourth quarter with Durant at the five, just as he did last season under Frank Vogel, along with Royce O’Neale, Booker, Beal and Jones. O’Neale guarded Clippers star Ivica Zubac in the fourth.

    Teams will try to upset the Suns all season long.

    Play along without the point guard

    The Suns brought in Monte Morris and Jones to initiate the offense, but they spent just as much time defending the ball as Durant, Booker and Beal prepared the ball.

    Jones and Morris are over 35 percent 3-point shooters for their careers. Last season, Jones shot a career-high 41.4% from distance, while Morris shot an even higher career-high 42.4% in his 27 games in Minnesota.

    So you can see why they would be useful off the ball, but the main reason for signing these two was so that Booker, Durant and Beal didn’t have to initiate the offense. Now the Big 3 is doing the off-screen-and-roll, but the Clippers just caught Durant to take the ball out of his hands.

    Beal lost a crucial ball in the fourth period and Booker over-dribbled.

    The Clippers were hands-on and the referees let players play through contact without blowing the whistle, but the Suns lacked ball movement. The only way to generate more than 40 3s is to move and share the ball. The Suns didn’t do nearly enough with 25 assists.

    This way you get Durant, Booker and Beal catch-and-shoot looks instead of just catching and dribbling one dribble too many.

    Multiple lineups

    Grayson Allen entered the game with 2:33 left in the first quarter to mark the 11thTh Players to see action.

    This is a sign of two things. The Suns believe in their depth with rookies Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro, and Budenholzer is playing in multiple lineups, in part because he doesn’t want to play prime minutes for his key players.

    Booker played 32 minutes before committing a foul in the fourth minute. Ighodaro replaced Booker with 3:20 left in the first quarter. Booker never checked out in the first quarter under Monty Williams or Frank Vogel unless he was in foul trouble.

    Having Ighodaro at the four allows the Suns to go bigger.

    Since Beal is the only starter with reserves, he has a chance to be aggressive.

    The Suns will need time to get used to each game as lineups take place in four-minute segments.

    First impression: Intuit Dome A-plus

    “The Wall” of fans rocked and swayed back and forth with their vaunted team owner – Steve Ballmer.

    “WELCOME TO CLIPPER NATION!!”

    The $2 billion Intuit Dome gives the Clippers a real place to call home after sharing Crypto.com Arena with the Los Angeles Lakers.

    The 18,000-seat arena is 1,250,000 gross square feet. The wall consists of 51 rows for Clipper fans only, and a pass is required to sit there. Fans pay $1,300 for all 41 home games.

    And they get very loud. Durant missed two free throws in the fourth quarter against “The Wall.”

    There is a huge double-sided “Halo” video board that is 32 feet tall and 623 feet in circumference on the inside and 28 feet tall and 661 feet on the outside.

    Multiple screens. Multiple replays and repeat views.

    Truly an unforgettable sight. All California high school jerseys on display are a very nice touch.

    Very spacious arena to say the least. The Clippers played up the water theme as they had a section that featured massive waves and had players dribbling and shooting through “the storm,” as the PA announcer said.

    Every other team owner will be jealous of that.

    I wonder if this gives Suns team owner Mat Ishbia an idea? Probably.

    Do you have any opinions on the current state of the suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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    Caradoc Wyn
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