Game Preview: Suns travel to Los Angeles for round two against Clippers

The Suns will get another chance to spoil the Clippers party in their new arena.

Who: Phoenix Suns (3-1) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (2-2)

When: 7:30 pm Arizona Time

Where: Intuit Dome — Inglewood, California

Watch: NBATV, Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports

Listen: KMVP 98.7

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The Phoenix Suns will face the Clippers in the brand-new Intuit Dome for the second time this season. After a win against the Lakers on Monday night at the Footprint Center, Phoenix had two days to rest before making their trip to Inglewood.

Kevin Durant and Devin Booker combined for 63 points in the win, displaying their offensive firepower. After a slow starter for Devin Booker (by his standards), it was nice to see him look more like himself as he rounds into regular-season form. He also turned 28 years old yesterday, so happy belated, Book.

The Clippers will be on short rest after losing in the final moments to the Blazers at home on Wednesday night, 106-105. They were 8.5-point favorites and a costly late turnover from James Harden haunted them with a chance to win in the final seconds.

Los Angeles is winless (0-2) on their new home floor thus far, and the Suns will look to make it 0-3 with two of those losses at their hands. We’ll see if the rest disparity becomes a factor.

The Suns defeated the Clippers 116-113 in an overtime thriller to open their season, led by some late-game heroics from Kevin Durant. It was a sloppy win, but we will take them how we can get them.

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Probable Starters

Injury Report

Suns

• Bradley Beal — QUESTIONABLE (Right Elbow Spain)
• Josh Okogie — OUT (Right Hamstring Strain)

Clippers

• Kawhi Leonard — OUT (Knee)
• Mo Bamba — OUT (Knee)
• PJ Tucker — OUT (not with team)

Uniform Matchup

Keys to the Game

Slow down Powell

Norman Powell went off for 30 points, continuing his scoring rampage to kick off the 2024-25 season. He is averaging 26.0 points per game in his first 4 games on absurd 51/43/86 shooting splits. With Paul George out of the equation and an injured Kawhi Leonard, he has taken the opportunity and ran with it early.

Ryan Dunn will likely be tasked with slowing down James Harden when he is in, but if they aren’t on the court at the same time then Dunn’s attention should focus on slowing down Powell from continuing his rampant pace.

Cut off the head of the snake

Despite what was said about Norm Powell above, James Harden is the engine that drives this Clippers offense both in playmaking and scoring. Phoenix did a nice job overall of containing him in their first contest, holding him to 10 of 28 shooting (2-9 from three) and forcing him to make 8 turnovers.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

If the field goal percentage is in that range again and they disrupt him forcing turnovers, that’s a winning equation. The key is not letting him and Powell get hot from long distance, because they are capable of breaking out in a hurry if they see just one go in.

Push the tempo

The Suns need to take advantage of their fresh legs and push the pace. Do not let this Clippers’ defense get set — they need to control the chaos. “Play random” if you will. Getting off to a strong start is the best way to demoralize a team on the second of a back-to-back.

Tyus Jones should be looking for outlets early, especially off misses so he can get his stars some easy buckets. If Bradley Beal can’t go, then expect some heavy minutes from rookie Ryan Dunn and Grayson Allen as well. We could use a big Grayson game after a slow/weird start to the season for him.

Another interesting facet of this game to monitor will be the play of Jusuf Nurkic after a disastrous outing that led to him getting benched by Mike Budenholzer against the Lakers. Will this be a bounceback game, or we will see another heavy dosage of Mason Plumlee? Small ball Durant lineups? It’s a possibility.

P.S. — Block out the noise from “The Wall” and knock down your free throws.

-Sincerely, every Suns fan

Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images

Prediction

The Suns get the road win and take care of business in a typical dogfight against a Ty Lue-coached team. Phoenix 118, Los Angeles 110.

I have a feeling the threes are going to hit at a high rate for the Suns early and often.