Clippers at Suns
The Los Angeles Clippers aim to defeat Phoenix for the ninth
consecutive time when they visit the Suns on Thursday. Los Angeles
recorded a 102-96 home victory over Phoenix on Nov. 2 and now looks to
notch its fifth straight road victory in the series.
The Clippers are coming off a 118-108 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday and the 10-point margin represents their largest loss of the season. Point guard Chris Paul suffered through a 2-of-11 shooting night against Dallas but had 11 assists to become the fourth-fastest player (706 games) to reach 7,000 career assists — trailing John Stockton (625), Magic Johnson (637) and Oscar Robertson (667). Phoenix has lost three of four games and has been off since committing a season-worst 23 turnovers during a 124-103 road loss against Oklahoma City on Sunday. "That's one thing I can say, they’re playing hard," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek told reporters. "I thought we did a lot of right things against Oklahoma City except for turn the ball over."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (5-3): Center DeAndre Jordan will be happy to focus on basketball after dealing with the hostile atmosphere in Dallas. Jordan famously shunned the Mavericks in the offseason after originally agreeing to a free-agent contract, and the fans serenaded him with jeers and name-calling all game long. Jordan said he wasn't affected by the atmosphere but he had only nine points and 11 rebounds and the Clippers were outscored by 23 points during the 27 minutes he was on the floor.
ABOUT THE SUNS (3-4): Guard Eric Bledsoe leads Phoenix in scoring (21.9), assists (6.1) and steals (2.1) and was terrific against the Thunder with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go with a season-best 11 assists. But also standing out was that Bledsoe committed just two turnovers, marking only the third time in his career that he had 10 or more assists and two or fewer turnovers in the same contest. “I think Eric's done a much better job this year with his turnovers," Hornacek said. "He doesn’t have the ones where he's jumping up in the air and he's stuck."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Phoenix won 11 of 12 home games against the Clippers prior to the current four-game skid.
2. Suns C Tyson Chandler had 14 points and a season-high 17 rebounds in the Nov. 2 meeting.
3. Los Angeles SG J.J. Redick (back spasms) departed Wednesday's game against Dallas and is doubtful to play against Phoenix.