Near-healthy Phoenix Suns face injury-riddled LA Clippers for 2nd time in 3 days
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Phoenix Suns guard Jalen Green celebrating a three-pointer against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov 6.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – All set to run it back again for a second matchup in three nights, the Phoenix Suns are close to becoming whole again, while the Los Angeles Clippers have availability issues.
Both statuses were on display on Thursday when the Suns earned a 115-102 home victory over the Clippers. Now the scene shifts to Inglewood, California, on Saturday (Sunday morning, Singapore time).
The Suns saw Jalen Green make his season debut after recovering from a hamstring strain. He delivered 29 points in the victory. Devin Booker added 24 points as Phoenix won for the third time in four games following a four-game losing streak.
The Clippers played without a pair of stars in James Harden (personal) and Kawhi Leonard (ankle) as their losing streak reached three games.
While the Suns await the return of Dillon Brooks (abdomen), they have some momentum while heading back on the road, where they are 0-4 this season.
Green fits right in with the group after arriving in the offseason in the trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.
“It’s not easy (with) ups and downs of coming back from an injury, wanting to play with a new group, in a new city, and then to be that in rhythm,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said. “Yeah, that’s unique. So, it was everything that we expected, and definitely more.”
Green, meanwhile, said of playing with Booker for the first time: “Really build off each other, talking the whole game... He’s a veteran guard. He’s been there before, done it before, so I’m learning everything I can from him while just trying to help him win.”
Without their star duo of Harden and Leonard, Bradley Beal struggled against his former team with just five points in 20 minutes.
A three-time All-Star in 11 seasons with the Washington Wizards, Beal struggled in 106 games over two seasons with the Suns and was not any better in his return to the desert.
While Los Angeles has struggled with turnovers this season, Thursday’s issue was letting the Suns make 19 3-pointers, the most the defense has allowed this season.
“We allowed a lot of threes, and to give up 40 points in the third quarter, it’s hard to come back from that,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said as he looked ahead to the next game.
Meanwhile on Friday, the Milwaukee Bucks, fueled by 41 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo, launched their NBA Cup title defence with a 126-110 victory over Eastern Conference leaders Chicago Bulls.
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo added 15 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and a pair of blocked shots, scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks pulled away.
Friday marked the second night of group play in the league’s in-season tournament, in its third edition this year. All 30 teams were drawn into six five-team groups for round-robin matches that also count in the regular-season standings.
Eight teams will advance to the Cup quarter-finals December 9-10, with the last four going to Las Vegas for semi-finals on December 13 and the championship game December 16.
Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs halted their two-game slide with a 121-110 victory over Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.
NBA champions the Oklahoma City Thunder, who started the season with a 8-0 run but lost to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, bounced back with a 132-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings. REUTERS
