Live Blog: Suns, Clippers Battle in Pivotal Game 3
Welcome to Inside The Suns' live coverage of Game 3 between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers. Here you'll find the latest scores, updates and everything concerning tonight's game at Crypto.com Arena
The Suns were able to hold on to seal a 129-124 victory as they now hold a 2-1 series lead against the Clippers. Even without both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers were able to hang around for basically the entirety of the game but Devin Booker's 45 point master piece was just to much to handle.
Fourth Quarter:
36.1- Suns 125, Clippers 120: Norman Powell keeps the Clippers alive scoring a three pointer plus the foul cutting the lead to just five points
42.0- Suns 125, Clippers 116 - Devin Booker hits a dagger layup plus the foul to put the Suns up by nine points with just 42 seconds to play
1:24- Suns 122, Clippers 116 - Torrey Craig redeems himself hitting a big corner three to extend the Suns' lead by six
1:44- Suns 119, Clippers 116 - Deandre Ayton misses two huge free throws. Russell Westbrook get the rebound and gets fouled by Torrey Craig and makes both free throws
2:07- Suns 119, Clippers 114 - Russell Westbrook steals the ball from Devin Booker leading Bones Hyland to get to the line hitting two free throws The Suns now only up by five.
3:44- Suns 117, Clippers 108 - Chris Paul puts his name back on the scoring sheet driving into the lane for an easy layup giving the Suns a nine point cussion
6:09- Suns 111, Clippers 101 - Devin Booker reaches 40 points with mid-range jumper putting the Suns up back by double digits and forcing the Clippers to use a timeout
9:03- Suns 105, Clippers 93 - Monty Williams challenges a Devin Booker foul on Bones Hyland which ultimately was successful
9:24- Suns 105, Clippers 92 - Bismack Biyombo makes his presence known with a layup through contact falling to the ground and drawing a foul in the process
11:10- Suns 98, Clippers 87 - Devin Booker hits extremely contested mid-range shot increasing his point total to 36 and the Suns lead to 11
Third Quarter:
End of Third- Suns 94, Clippers 85 - The Suns outscored the Clippers 40-34 in the third quarter. Devin Booker has surpassed the 30 point mark as he leads the team with 34 points going into the fourth quarter.
56.6- Suns 92, Clippers 80 - Devin Booker makes a contested layup with practically one hand getting fouled by Terance Mann
2:08- Suns 85, Clippers 78 - Kevin Durant called for a goaltending on Russell Westbrook plus the foul from Damion Lee leads to a three point play for the Clippers
4:53- Suns 79, Clippers 66 - Kevin Durant hammers down a monstar dunk in transition increasing the Suns' lead to 13
7:43-Suns 69, Clippers 59 - Devin Booker swipes the ball away from Ivica Zubac leading to a transition dunk of his own. The Suns lead by double digits for the first time tonight.
9:26- Suns 62, Clippers 53 - A Torrey Craig three pointer extends the Suns' lead to nine points, their largest lead of the night.
10:05- Suns 57, Clippers 53 - Tyronn Lue uses his first coaches challenge which ultimately was a successful challenge. He was challenging Eric Gordon's foul on Devin Booker.
Halftime:
Despite being without both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers only trail the Suns by three points. Devin Booker has been red hot once gain dropping 21 points shooting 9-15 FG. Turnovers continue to be an issue for the Suns as they currently have nine turnovers at the half.
Second Quarter:
End of Second- Suns 54, Clippers 51 - Clippers end the half on an 8-2 run as Norman Powell scored all eight points for the Clippers. Devin Booker leads the Suns with 21 points but Powell leads all players with 22 points.
1:58- Suns 50, Clippers 44 - Russell Westbrook steals the ball from his former teammate Kevin Durant leading to a Norman Powell dunk
2:25- Suns 50, Clippers 42 - Suns go on a 9-0 run to extend their lead to eight. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul have all hit three pointers during this Suns' 9-0 run.
6:41- Suns 35, Clippers 34 - Marcus Morris Sr. gets a technical foul after arguing foul call on Josh Okogie with the official
10:35- Suns 32, Clippers 27 - Devin Booker hits tough shot through contact leading to a foul from Marcus Morris Sr. Booker extends his point total to 16.
First Quarter:
End of First- Suns 27, Clippers 27 - Clippers end the first quarter with three pointer at the buzzer from Marcus Morris Sr. tying the game at 27. Devin Booker currently leads the Suns with 13 points while Norman Powell leads the Clippers with 10 points.
1:00- Suns 23, Clippers 22 - Suns regain the lead with a Kevin Durant transition bucket. Durant now has six points on the night.
3:43- Clippers 20, Suns 14 - Eric Gordon hits open layup to extend the Clippers lead by six. The Clippers are currently on an 8-0 following three pointers from both Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell
8:33- Suns 7, Clippers 6 - After a quick 6-0 start by the Clippers, the Suns respond with a 7-0 run of their own headlined by a fast break dunk by Kevin Durant and transition three by Devin Booker.
PREGAME
*UPDATE: CLIPPERS F KAWHI LEONARD (KNEE) IS OUT FOR GAME 3
The Phoenix Suns were able to snag a win in Game 2 to ensure the series was level heading back to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4. After slipping in their opener, the Suns relied heavily on their starters as each of Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Devin Booker played 38 or more minutes of action.
When asked what the difference was between Games 1 and 2, Clippers head coach Ty Lue responded with:
“Booker. Booker, KD and CP. They did a good job of just controlling the game and like I said in that second half and fourth quarter they really took over.
"We tried to blitz, we tried to fire, we did a lot of different things, like I said, they played great. I was just proud of our guys because we weren’t satisfied coming in and just winning one game. I thought our guys scrapped, gave everything we had. We missed some shots, you know and had a couple of key turnovers but other than that we came in with the mindset that we wanted to win this game, so that’s all you can really ask for.
"There’s some things we’ve got to clean up before the next game and we’ll ready. But like I said, they were down 1-0, at home and their guys came to play tonight and they had a great game.”
Much has been made about LA's advantage when it comes to bench play - the Suns have only gotten 23 combined points from their bench in the first two games.
Many question if the Suns can carry over their tremendous shooting performance from Tuesday, as they converted 60% of their field goals and 41.7% from three-point land.
The key to getting back on track was securing the rebound battle, according to Suns head coach Monty Williams.
“I think again, anytime we rebound the ball like we rebounded tonight - everyone who won the rebound battle has won the game," Williams said following the Game 2 win.
"When we rebound like that, we can get it to either one of those guys and now as I have said before, our best offense is a defensive stop. When Book (Devin Booker) is going downhill like that, he is hard to guard.”
Kawhi Leonard dropped back-to-back 30+ point performances in Phoenix. Russell Westbrook has also factored in a major way for Los Angeles while Paul George remains out.
The Clippers have a 67.8% chance to win tonight, according to ESPN's basketball power index.
