Clippers at Suns
Teams playing arguably their best basketball of the season meet Sunday when the Phoenix Suns host the Los Angeles Clippers. When it seemed just a matter of time before the fully-healthy Oklahoma City Thunder would catch the Suns for the eighth spot in the West, Phoenix rolled off wins in 14 of its last 19 games. The Clippers, with sights on an NBA title, have struggled with consistency but have won nine of their last 12 games and may be finally fortifying a troublesome bench.
Outside of Jamal Crawford, the Los Angeles bench has been a disaster, but it scored 54 points in the Clippers' 123-84 rout of Brooklyn on Thursday, and coach Doc Rivers was also pleased with the crew's defense. “This was a good win for us,” Clippers guard Chris Paul told reporters. “I think this is what we’ve been talking about all year is finding that consistency. Our first unit came out, our second unit improved the lead, and then we just sort of sustained it all game.” Phoenix has been playing well but had its seven-game home winning streak ended on a buzzer-beater by James Harden in a 113-111 loss to Houston on Friday.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona (Phoenix), Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (29-14): Blake Griffin scored all but two of his 24 points in the first half as Los Angeles built a 33-point lead en route to its biggest victory ever over the Nets. Crawford scored 17 off the bench and Paul added 17 assists in 24 minutes. After a home game with Denver on Monday, the Clippers, who rank fourth in the NBA in scoring (107.1), embark on an eight-game road trip.
ABOUT THE SUNS (26-19): Phoenix rallied from 16 down in the fourth to tie Houston, sparked by 25 points, eight rebounds and nine assists by Eric Bledsoe, before having its four-game winning streak snapped. Still, the Suns are closer to the seventh spot in the West (two games back of San Antonio) than the ninth (three games ahead of New Orleans and Oklahoma City). "I feel like we’re moving in the right direction," Phoenix GM Ryan McDonough told reporters. “Our young players are developing and improving. With the strength of our backcourt, that’s helped us win a good number of games." Phoenix ranks third in the NBA in scoring (107.5) and has scored 100-plus points in 16 of its last 17 games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Against the Nets, Paul had the most assists in less than 25 minutes in the NBA since 1987, when Rivers was a guard with the Atlanta Hawks. "Doc may be better than some of us thought he was," Paul joked.
2. Bledsoe has scored 25-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
3. One of the Suns' young players, C Alex Len, is averaging 7.6 points on 60.5 percent shooting and 8.1 rebounds in 23.9 minutes in his last 16 games, compared to 5.4 points on 52.5 percent shooting and 4.9 rebounds in his first 29 games.