In the momentum of their Game 1 victory, the Clippers started with a bang tonight in the first quarter of the second round, still in Phoenix.
Like Russell Westbrook who against his former teammate Kevin Durant from the first minutes, or Kawhi Leonard who steals the ball in the hands of the same KD at the end of the first quarter, Los Angeles showed great defensive ambitions from the start. of game.
“They changed their defense almost with each possession [en début de match] »precisely detailed KD. “They sent catches to two, even to three, then passed in zone, then on an all-court pressing. They tried to destabilize us with their defense but we ended up finding the key. By playing simple. »
Starting on a small 3/8 on shots in the first quarter, Kevin Durant quickly cleared things up in the second, with 10 points on 4/5 on shots, at the same time as Deandre Ayton also brought his high percentage ten ( 5/6). Past the initial aggressiveness of Los Angeles, the Suns have gradually found their cruising speed to arrive at the break in perfect equality (59-59). Enough to recover the “momentum”.
Put on the ropes in turn on the return from the locker room, but already at the end of the first half to tell the truth, the Clippers did not know how to show a reaction, nor find solutions, both offensively and defensively. Apart from Kawhi Leonard who still scored 15 of his 31 points in the second half.
“We just have to defend better”
And yet, even he ended up cracking at the very end of the game, with a costly loss of the ball during a black series of five consecutive possessions without a single point scored.
“They had a lot of wide open shots, which we didn’t contest. They can shoot, it does not matter, but we must at least be there to challenge and hinder as much as possible., agrees Russell Westbrook. “We know it’s going to be a tough series. They came back tied, they did their part of the job in this game. »
Faced with Devin Booker (38 points at 14/22 shooting, 9 assists), Kevin Durant (25 points at 10/19 shooting), Chris Paul (16 points, 8 assists) or even Deandre Ayton (14 points, 13 rebounds ) or even Torrey Craig (17 points including 5/8 from 3-pointers), the Clippers ended up losing ground defensively. The destabilizer has been destabilized!
“We tried to blitz. We tried to make a press zone. We tried a lot of different things but they played very well.”confirms Tyronn Lue. “But we think we can win this series, that’s the most important thing. 100% of the battle is mental, you have to believe in it. And we believe we can beat them! »
With only three scorers in the last quarter (Leonard, Westbrook and Powell), the Clippers ended up on their knees. In the end, the Clippers had too many fires to contain in Arizona on this second inning…
“We just have to defend better,” soberly concludes Kawhi Leonard. “And see if they can miss any shots…”
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Kawhi Leonard | 52 | 33.6 | 51.2 | 41.6 | 87.1 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 3.9 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 23.8 |
| Paul George | 56 | 34.6 | 45.7 | 37.1 | 87.1 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 5.1 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 23.8 |
| Norman Powell | 60 | 26.1 | 47.9 | 39.7 | 81.2 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 17.0 |
| Russell Westbrook | 21 | 30.2 | 48.9 | 35.6 | 65.8 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 4.9 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 15.8 |
| John Wall | 34 | 22.2 | 40.8 | 30.3 | 68.1 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 5.2 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 11.4 |
| Marcus Morris | 65 | 28.1 | 42.6 | 36.4 | 78.2 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 11.2 |
| Eric Gordon | 22 | 24.9 | 46.3 | 42.3 | 84.2 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 11.0 |
| Reggie Jackson | 52 | 25.7 | 41.8 | 35.0 | 92.4 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 10.9 |
| Bones Hyland | 14 | 19.0 | 40.1 | 35.1 | 75.0 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 10.8 |
| Ivica Zubac | 76 | 28.5 | 63.4 | 0.0 | 69.7 | 3.1 | 6.8 | 9.9 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 10.8 |
| Terance Mann | 81 | 23.1 | 51.9 | 38.9 | 78.0 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.4 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 8.8 |
| Luke Kennard | 35 | 20.7 | 46.4 | 44.7 | 95.0 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 7.8 |
| mason plumlee | 23 | 19.9 | 72.7 | 0.0 | 77.2 | 1.8 | 5.1 | 6.9 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 7.5 |
| Bj Boston, Jr. | 22 | 11.3 | 41.8 | 41.4 | 76.3 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 6.5 |
| Nicholas Batum | 78 | 21.9 | 42.0 | 39.1 | 70.8 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 6.1 |
| Robert Covington | 48 | 16.2 | 44.5 | 39.7 | 75.0 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 6.0 |
| Moses Brown | 34 | 8.5 | 63.5 | 0.0 | 45.8 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Amir Coffey | 50 | 12.5 | 38.6 | 27.5 | 77.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 3.4 |
| Jason Preston | 14 | 8.8 | 43.9 | 27.8 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
| Moussa Diabate | 22 | 8.9 | 51.1 | 50.0 | 62.5 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.7 |
| Xavier Moon | 4 | 4.9 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 |
