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PHOENIX — The Clippers come back late comes up short as they fall 111-109 to the Phoenix Suns on Monday night. Los Angeles trailed by as much 13 points late before a late surge got them close before free throws brought forth their demise. The Clippers fall to 26-20 after the loss and will get a day off before a Wednesday night matchup with San Antonio Spurs.
Here are some takeaways from the Clippers loss to the Suns:
Clips nearly pull off a stunner
The Clippers trailed majority of the night but still nearly walked away from this game with a win.
Phoenix held onto a 103-90 lead with 5:06 left in the fourth quarter after Kevin Durant knocked down his fourth 3-pointer on the night. Grayson Allen a bit later knocked down a 3 to 107-96 with 2:46 remaining in the game.
Things looked out of reach the Clippers but they went on a 10-0 run, cutting the deficit to 107-106 on Norman Powell’s short jumper with 40 seconds remaining.
Allen and guard Bradley Beal knocked down four free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach for Los Angeles.
Like most of the year, the Clippers showed resilience until the end but just didn’t have enough on this night.
Three Clippers score 20+ points in the loss
Though the Clippers came up short you saw a usually three players perform well.
Starting with center Ivica Zubac who scored a team-high 25 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor. Zubac added 16 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block. He dominated the undersized Suns when given an opportunity. I wish the Clippers gave him even more opportunities on the night with his clear advantage ver Phoenix.
After his 40-point performance against the Milwaukee Buck, Harden put up another solid performance. Harden scored 24 points adding 10 assists and 6 rebounds. He tried to make a patented step-back 3 late to take the lead but came up empty
Finally, there is Norman Powell, who finished with 23 points making 8-of-14 shots including three 3-pointers. He made the shot to get the Clippers within one late and had the finally heave to try to win the game but wasn’t close.
The bench comes up empty
Los Angeles has star power at the top of their roster but is known to have depth off the bench as well which has helped the team be successful so far this season.
On this night, the guys off the bench had an underwhelming performance. Five players got minutes off the bench in this game but only combined to score eight points total.
They shot a combined 3-for-14 on the day.
With the production Allen gave the Suns off their bench with 18 points. The Clippers needed someone to match but no one stepped up.