2) Phoenix Suns versus 4) Los Angeles Clippers
(51-21) (47-25)
Season Series: Clippers won 2-1
Playoff History: Suns defeated
Clippers in 2006 Western Conference Semis 4-3
One team was expected to reach this point
in the NBA Playoffs. Their opponent has made an epic run to be within four
games of reaching The NBA Finals in nearly three decades. Both teams enter one
half of the NBA’s version of the Final four not whole. However, the ancillary
pieces around the headliners for these Pacific Division rivals are peaking over
the first two rounds of the 2021 NBA Western Conference Playoffs and now meet
for the right to be four wins away from competing for their first NBA title.
Here is the 2021 J-Speaks’ Western Conference Finals Preview.
For the Phoenix Suns, they had not made
the playoffs prior to this season in 11 years. The last time they made the
playoffs was 2010, where they made it to the Western Conference Finals falling
to the eventual back-to-back NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers led by the late
Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant in six games.
For the Clippers, after going 0-5 in the
West Semis with a chance to make it the Conference Finals, will finally play in
the West’s championship round for the first time in their 50-year history.
The Suns have not played since the start
of this week, where they finished off a four-game sweep of the No. 3 Seeded
Denver Nuggets winning 125-118 on TNT.
Since dropping Game 3 in the First-Round
at the Lakers 109-95 on May 27, the Suns have won seven consecutive playoffs
games, a franchise record.
They have been led their dynamic backcourt
of 11-time All-Star Chris Paul, whose averaged 15.7 points and 8.7 assists on
50.9 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from three-point range, and 91.2
percent from the foul line and fellow All-Star Devin Booker, who has played
extremely well in his postseason experience with a team-leading average of 27.9
points, 6.8 boards, and 4.8 assists on 48.7 percent from the field, 37.7
percent from three-point range, and 91.7 percent from the foul line.
From the moment Paul arrived when the Suns acquired him from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the summer of 2020, he along with head coach Monty Williams and fellow NBA veteran Jae Crowder, who played with the Miami Heat in the 2020 Finals last season against the eventual NBA champion Lakers have put their fingerprints all over the Suns and helped turned them from a perennial cellar dweller the last decade-plus into a championship caliber squad.
That was on full display in the Game 4
clincher where Paul had 13 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter,
seven assists and two steals on 14 for 19 shooting. Crowder (11.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg,
38.2 3-Pt.%) had nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
To put into context how well Paul has
played so far this postseason, he has 87 assists and just 14 turnovers, which
include 53 assists and just six miscues the last five games. In the West Semis
alone against the Nuggets, Paul, who averaged 20 points and 10 assists in a
playoff series for the sixth time in his career had 41 assists and just five
turnovers.
Just two years ago, many prognosticators
wrote off Paul because of his age and the questioning of his ability to still
be a productive player and leader on the hardwood.
Paul with what he did in getting the
Thunder to the postseason in 2019-20 going seven games with the then James
Harden led Houston Rockets before falling and what he has done for the Suns is
why he was in the conversation for Kia MVP that went to the Nuggets Nikola
Jokic earlier this month.
“I’m so grateful to my family, my team.
Couple of years ago, they was writing me off. You can’t do this, and this ain’t
about me. This is about us. Shows you what you can do when you come together as
a team,” Paul, who totaled 43 points on 16 for 19 shooting (84.2 percent) from the
floor, 20 assists and zero turnovers in the fourth quarter of the Semis against
the Nuggets said to NBA on TNT’s Chris Haynes in the Game 4 clincher. “We got a
great team over there, and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
The Suns though will have to be at their
best at the start of the West Finals because Paul will not be available to
start having been in the NBA’s health and safety protocols since Wednesday.
Paul is not expected to play at the start of this series, which gets underway
on Sunday afternoon at the Suns, there is no timetable of when he is expected
to play.
“There’s a natural concern for the person,
and that’s basically where it ends,” Coach Williams said on Thursday about the
latest form of adversity the Suns are dealing with this postseason.
“Everybody’s dealing with it. If you look around the league, Philly’s [76ers]
got a situation, the Clippers have a situation, Utah’s had one for a while.
Like everyone’s dealing.”
“Right now, we’re just in a situation
where all we can do is practice and wait to see what happens. There’s a goal in
front of us and were focused on that, and we’re hoping and praying that we’ll
be whole again before we play Game 1.”
With Paul out that means more responsibility will be placed on the shoulders of Booker, who all he has done in the two close out games is score a combined 81 points in the 113-100 Game 6 clincher at the Lakers with a double-double of 47 points and 11 rebounds on 15 for 22 shooting, including 8 for 10 from three-point range and 34 points and 11 boards on 11 for 25 shooting and 10 for 11 from the charity stripe in 125-118 Game 4 clincher at the Nuggets.
“I feel good,” Booker, whose registered
five games of 30-plus points so far this postseason said to the “Inside the
NBA” on TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille
O’Neal postgame of the Game 4 clincher last Sunday about making it to the
Western Conference Finals. “I’ve been waiting on this for a really long time.
Just playoff basketball in general.”
“A lot of people have been saying I
haven’t played any meaningful basketball and I’m not ready for that. And this
is my time to prove it. So, the whole team’s having fun with it. Having great
leaders like CP, Jae Crowder, Coach Monty around here helps out a lot.”
Along with scoring, Booker will have to at
times be a facilitator in making plays for his teammates. But the floor general
responsibilities will also be handled by Paul’s understudy Cameron Payne (10.2
ppg, 38.9 3-Pt.%), who has more than held his own so far this postseason. The
Suns also can go to youngster Jevon Carter, and veterans Langston Galloway and
E’Twaun Moore if necessary.
Along with Booker stellar play, the Suns
are in position competing for an NBA championship also because of the play of
big man Deandre Ayton who has been steady and consistent first against
perennial All-Star Anthony Davis in the First-Round against the Lakers and more
than held his own against league MVP Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets. During the
regular season, Ayton averaged 14.4 points and 10.5 rebounds. So far in his
first postseason of his three-year career is averaging 15.2 points and 10.6
boards on 71.6 percent shooting.
Ayton’s ability as a screener and roll man
off Paul and Booker’s two-man games are a big reason why the Suns’ perimeter
players in the aforementioned Paul,
Booker, Crowder, Mikal Bridges (12.0 ppg, 44.9 FG%, 36.4 3-Pt.%),
Cameron Johnson (6.7 ppg, 41.2 3-Pt.%), Dario Saric, Torrey Craig are getting a
plethora of wide-open jumpers, especially from three-point range that they have
been connecting well on.
Along with his skills offensively, Ayton
has the major reason why the Suns lead the NBA playoffs in points allowed
(100.8); opponent’s field goal percentage (42.3 percent); and point
differential at +10.2. They are No. 2 in opponent’s three-point percentage at
32.1 percent and tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for No 4 in block shots per
game so far in the playoffs at four per contest.
The Suns defense has also been keyed by
their wings in the previously mentioned Crowder and Bridges, and of course
Paul.
While Paul and Booker have been getting most of the headlines, and it has been well deserved, Bridges has been the real barometer for how successful the Suns have been so far this postseason. When the former Villanova Wildcat has scored in double figures, the Suns have gone a perfect 8-0 so far this postseason and has failed to reach double-figures in the lone two losses sustained in Games 2 and 3 of the First-Round against the Lakers.
The one advantage the Suns do have going
into this next series is they have had time to practice this past week having
finished their West Semis tilt against the Nuggets awaiting their opponent in
the West Finals. That preparation has become more prevalent now with Paul being
out, hopefully giving the Coach Williams squad prep time to put together a game
plan that will work against the Clippers in the interim with Paul out for who
knows how long.
“We’re trying to manage these days,”
Williams said. “I’ve talked to a number of coaches who have been in this situation
just to get information on how they’ve handled this much time off and that kind
of thing. We’re trying to keep a game rhythm the best we can.”
While the Suns will be in the Western
Conference Finals for the 10th time in their history, their opponent
in the Los Angeles Clippers will be making their first appearance in the NBA’s
West championship series.
To put into perspective what the Clippers
did on Thursday night when they took down the Utah Jazz 131-119 in Game 6 of
their Western Conference Semifinals series on Friday night, they ended the
longest drought by any team in the four major North American sports leagues
(NBA/NFL/NHL/MLB) without reaching that league’s Conference championship game
or round at 50 years.
The Clippers had gone 0-8 in their
opportunities to advance to the Conference Finals, which included their three
missed chances in the last season’s West Semis against the Nuggets, falling in
seven games after leading that series 3-1. They lost in seven games in the 2015
East Semis against the Houston Rockets after leading that series 3-1. In 2006,
the Clippers lost in seven games of the 2006 West Semis against the Suns.
One person who understands what the
Clippers have been through over the course of their five decades is former
Clipper and now ESPN television color analyst Mark Jackson, who spent the
1992-93 season as their starting point guard and led them to one of their rare
playoff appearances in 1993.
“Think about all the trials and tribulations
this franchise has seen,” Jackson, whose Clippers squad lost in the First-Round
against the Rockets led by Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon in five games 28
springs ago said towards the close of Game 6 broadcast on ESPN about their
journey to finally getting to the Conference Finals. “The dark days. The
frustrating days. The tough losses. This is a tremendous accomplishment, and
their mindset should be to celebrate right now, but they still have work to
do.”
To say that head coach Tyronn Lue squad’s
road to get to within four games of competing for the Larry O’Brien trophy has
been anything but easy would be an understatement.
In the first two rounds against the No. 5
Seeded Dallas Mavericks and the No. 1 Seeded Utah Jazz, the Clippers had to overcome
consecutive 0-2 starts to those series to take down the Mavericks in seven
games losing all but Game 7 on their homecourt and winning all three games of
the opening-round at the Mavericks.
In taking down the Jazz in six games in
the West Semis, the Clippers won the last four games which included winning
Games 5 and 6 with their lead star Kawhi Leonard (30.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 4.4 apg,
2.1 spg, 57.3 FG%, 39.3 3-Pt.%), who injured his right knee in the fourth
quarter of Clippers 118-104 win in Game 4 that tied the series 2-2. In his last
two outings prior to the knee injury, Leonard registered 31 points or more in
Games 3 and 4 on 53.5 percent from the field.
In the Clippers take down of the Jazz
119-111 in Game 5 this past Wednesday night in Utah, fellow perennial All-Star
Paul George (26.1 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 5.3 apg, 45.1 FG%, 36.1 3-Pt.%) registered 37
points, 16 rebounds, five assists and two block shots on 12 for 22 from the
field and 10 for 11 from the charity stripe. Reggie Jackson (16.6 ppg, 50.3
FG%, 43.5 3-Pt.%) also played well scoring 12 of his 22 points in the fourth
quarter.
“I just feel comfortable,” Jackson said
postgame after the win in Game 5 about taking tough shots in the presser cooker
of a playoff game. “I feel comfortable taking shots with conviction, whether
they go in or not. You can only miss or make. So, I just try to take them with
conviction. Try to be prepared for the moment and fortunate enough to have some
go in.
For George, it was his third consecutive
game scoring 30 points or more, the longest such streak of his postseason
career. He had 31 points on 12 for 24 shooting, including 6 for 10 from
three-point range in the Clippers’ 132-106 win in Game 3 versus Jazz. George
followed that up with 31 points, nine rebounds going 4 for 10 from three-point
range and 9 for 10 from the foul line.
“There’s no secret. I knew I had to be big
tonight,” George said postgame after the Game 5 win, where he scored 30-plus
points for the third straight game, the longest such streak of his playoff
career. “Got to be big going forward.”
“Our season is alive because of his
[Leonard’s] shouldering of all the work that he’s done. And so, we’ve got to
hold it together and continue to keep this boat afloat until he returns.”
In Game 6, the Clippers got off to a rough beginning at home getting outscored 39-19 in the second quarter and trailed Jazz 72-50 at the half. They were down by 25 points at 75-50 early in the third quarter before getting things in gear outscoring the Jazz 81-44 the rest of the way behind a 21-2 run, which included a 17-0 run in the third quarter as the Clippers outscored the Jazz 41-22 in the third quarter to cut that 22-point halftime deficit to 94-91 after three quarters. The Clippers closed the door on the Jazz outscoring them 40-25 in the fourth quarter to win Game 6 131-119 to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in their 50-year history as a franchise going back to their years first as the Buffalo Braves, then the San Diego Clippers and now as the Los Angeles Clippers.
Just like Jackson did in Game 5, the
Clippers got a big-time performance from second-year guard Terance Mann, who
scored 25 of his overall career-high 39 points in the second half on 15 for 21
from the field, including 7 for 10 from three-point range. Mann, who had 13
points in his first career playoff start in place of Leonard had 13 points
after scoring just 12 points total the first four games of the series.
“I mean, I just trust my work. I just go
out there and trust my work, Everybody keep telling me to shoot the ball, and
that’s what I did,” Mann, who previous career-high in the NBA was 25 points
said about his performance to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols after the Game 6 clincher.
George in the Game 6 clincher had 28
points on 10 for 24 from the field with nine rebounds, seven assists and three
steals. Jackson had 22 of his 27 points in the second half with a season-high
10 assists on 10 for 16 shooting, including 3 for 7 from three-point range.
For George specifically, the close of this
series the last four games put on display the kind of fortitude and will that
many believed he had in him but did not show enough of in postseasons past
whether it was for the Clippers last season, the Thunder and towards the close
of his time with the Pacers.
George understood that he needed to step
up in the absence of Leonard and will need to continue that if Clippers have
any hopes of advancing to the NBA Finals.
“Man, it feels great to close out here,”
George said to Nichols postgame of the Game 6 clincher about reaching the
Conference Finals for the first time in Clippers’ history. “The wrote us off
when Kawhi went down. Everybody had to step up. We knew we had to step up in
his loss.”
“We just send our prayers to him.
Hopefully, he gets healthy. But we got to continue on. He [Leonard] carried us
up until this point. I look forward to the challenge of carrying us even
further.”
During the regular season, the Clippers
took two of the three meetings against the Suns, who despite outrebounding them
by a +4.3 and having a turnover margin of plus-one during their regular season
series had a point differential of -2.3.
The Clippers though will enter the West
Finals on just one day of rest and having to travel to Phoenix for Game 1 of
the upcoming series on Sunday afternoon after their comeback win in the Game 6
clincher over the Jazz.
This series will come down to if former
Clipper in Paul can return when he clears health and safety protocols and be
the floor general that he has been for the Suns all this year and in his
magnificent Hall of Fame career.
It will come down to Booker, who averaged
23.3 points against the Clippers during the regular season being able to score
and facilitate for his teammates.
This series will also come down to which
role players can play consistently. For the Suns that supporting cast is the
aforementioned Johnson, Payne, Crowder, Bridges, and Payne.
For the Clippers it is Mann, Nicholas
Batum (9.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.8 spg, 500 FG%, 41.4 3-Pt.%), Jackson, Mann, Marcus
Morris (12.2 ppg, 39.47 3-Pt.%), Sr. Patrick Beverly, two-time NBA champion
Rajon Rondo, Ivica Zubac, and possibly DeMarcus Cousins.
As important as the superstars are in the
outcome of a playoff series, it also comes down to strategy and scheme.
What helped the Clippers get past the Jazz
in the Semis is that Coach Lue decided in the early on the series to go small
where he put five guys on the court that can spread the floor and shoot threes.
What that did is take Jazz All-Star center and now three-time Kia Defensive
Player of the Year in Rudy Gobert away from the basket and make him defend in
space. That resulted in the Jazz getting wide open jump shots, especially from
three-point range, where the Clippers beat the Jazz at their own game, which
resulted in four straight wins and a trip to the Conference Finals.
One player who has been a major barometer
for the Clippers success this postseason has been Morris, Sr. who has shot
20-35 (71.1 percent) from three-point range in the team’s eight wins so far in
the 2021 Playoffs, and just 7 for 33 (21.3 percent) from three-point range in
the losses.
What this also showed is Coach Lue’s
ability to make adjustments, something that his former boss and current 76ers’
head coach Doc Rivers seemed not to make at critical times in the playoffs in
previous seasons.
Coach Lue is not afraid to play certain
people depending on the matchup or if they are playing to the level that is
getting them in the win column more often than not.
That is why Coach Lue is the NBA’s
all-time leader amongst NBA head coaches with a .917 winning percentage in
playoff games with an opportunity to clinch a series, compiling a now 12-1 mark
with the Game 6 victory over the Clippers.
What will be different in this series
against the Suns when the Clippers go small is that the Suns have player who
can hurt them in the interior in Ayton, who unlike Gobert can score in the low
post and has a solid midrange jumper and is an excellent rebounder both
defensively and offensively.
That means, Zubac and Cousins will for
sure see consistent time in the series because they will need someone to
contain Ayton and neutralize him.
For the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, reaching the Western Conference Finals is special from where they both were previously whether it was a decade ago for the Suns and it seems like forever for the so-called Lakers little brother in the Clippers.
Overcoming the adversities from this past
regular season from COVID-19 protocols injuries, and in the Suns case a lack of
experience on their roster, they put it all together thanks to two of the best
head coaches in the Monty Williams for the Suns and Tyronn Lue.
There team’s hard work has resulted in a
profound respect and appreciation from their ravage fan bases. In fact, in the
Game 6 clincher at the Nuggets, Ball Arena did have some Suns fans who waited
after the Game 5 applauding Chris Paul before his postgame interview with
Haynes of TNT.
There is some sting in this series because
two key participants in Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul are on the mend at the
start of a series that will determine which one will be playing for the Larry
O’Brien trophy.
That said you have a matchup between two squads who will look any adversity right in the face and take it head on. You also have two squads who have a level of respect for the other and understand that it will take everything each one has and then some to win four more games and reach the 2021 NBA Finals.
"They're a good team," Coach Williams said about the Clippers. "They've shown that they've shown they can overcome deficits in the playoffs for sure."
Coach Williams added about the Clippers Game 6 come from behind win, "I was watching as a coach last night trying to figure out ways playing against either team, and when I saw them make that run, that was just a lot of will and shot making, and a ton of defense as well."
Coach Lue said that he and his coaching staff Kenny Atkinson, Chauncey Billups, associate head coach Dan Craig, Larry Drew, Roy Rogers, Brendan O'Connor, and Jeremy Castleberry do a phenomenal job of making adjustment to stay two to three steps ahead of their opponent.
"I think my coaching staff does a great job with that...And we just want to make sure when they make adjustments we already know the adjustments they're going to make, and we have a counter for it," Lue said. "So, just trying to prepare before they do it and stay a step ahead of them."
Prediction: Clippers
in seven games.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of, 6/9/2021 www.nba.com’s “Tune-In Tidbits: TNT Wednesday, June 9, 2021,” by Brian Martin; 6/12/2021 4 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” presented by State Farm with Matt Winer, Steve Smith, and Brendan Haywood; 6/13/2021 7:30 p.m. TNT’s “NBA Tip-Off,” presented by Carmax with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 6/13/2021 8 p.m. “Phoenix Suns versus Denver Nuggets” Game 6 West Semifinals on TNT, presented by Fanduel Sportsbook with Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, and Chris Haynes; 6/13/2021 10:30 p.m. “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal; 6/13/2021 NBA Playoff scores www.nba.com; 6/17/2021 7 p.m. “NBA Countdown” on ESPN, presented by Mtn Dew with Maria Taylor, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams, and Adrian Wojnarowski; 6/18/2021 2 a.m. NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Chris Miles, Dennis Scott, and Quentin Richardson; 6/18/2021 10 p.m. “Utah Jazz versus Los Angeles Clippers,” on ESPN, presented by Chipotle with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Rachel Nichols; 6/19/2021 www.nba.com’s “Series Preview: Suns, Clippers Each Peaking Heading Into Conference Finals,” by Michael C. Wright; 6/19/2021 11 p.m. "Inside the NBA," presented by Kia on TNT with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O'Neal; https://www.espn.com/nba/stats/team/_/view/opponent/table/defensive/sort/avgBlocks/threepointfieldgoalpct; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/phx; https://www.espn.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/lac; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020-21_Los_Angeles_Clippers_season and https://en.m.wikpedia.org/wiki/List_of_Phoenix_Suns_seasons.
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