The Suns Clippers' rematch looks more like what is expected in this series. The Suns shot 57% of their shots in the mid-range, only 11 shots under the basket, and the shooting distribution went against the trend, but the shooting efficiency was against the sky, 16 of 28 in the near basket area, 16 of 22 for two points, accurate but reasonable.
Durant's regular season mid-range shooting rate is 56%, Booker 51%, Ayton 48%, and Paul 48%, which is the Sun's mid-range infinite connection. With the Clippers spending a lot of time at center and Zubac's most center time, the Suns' mid-range response performance in the Suns G1 is clearly unacceptable. The suspected explosion of G2, like a normal level plus a little pullback of G1 inaccuracy, is within their capabilities. Objectively speaking, Booker, Durant, Paul, some of their jump shots are still very difficult, but the difference with G1 is by no means as simple as "in" or "not in":
The G1 Suns play chaotically, and the main attackers are full of defense and pounce on the Clippers' backcourt, as well as nearby swiping and harassment, and they don't seem to be mentally prepared enough, and some of their shots are "very rushed" and the rhythm is not good;
In the case of G2 (at least in the second half), the Suns made their attitude very clear – not ink, explicitly using cover to shoot space, is to create a comfortable ball holding opportunity. For example, Paul's quick single-block cover to the unmanned side of the emergency stop mid-shot, Booker's oblique retreat out of space, Booker's three-point shot with Zubac's ball, and Durant's mid-range shot with Ayton to cover the catch, these balls are simple but very inexplicable, because the Clippers' defense can't help at all. The main attackers maintained a good shooting rhythm throughout the process, more like them usually.
The Suns' defense has also improved a bit. Booker's defense less frequently pinched Leonard, which is better than G1 Du and Bu who have no defensive contribution against Wei Shao. Paul also showed some of the defensive contributions he can make in his current version at the end of the fourth quarter, twice cutting off the ball for Gordon to show his years of precipitation. When Biyombo was on the floor, he proved his ability to change Clippers players other than Leonard and made some basket contributions. Although the Suns won this game more by offense, it will still be more defensive integrity than G1.
That's pretty much it.
Objectively speaking, the G2 does not make people feel "OK, the sun is back to normal, the Clippers are going to die". The Clippers returned home 1-1 and the goal was achieved, and it will be up to them to adjust.
The sun did its best:
Durant and Booker still played 44 minutes each, and Paul 37. Without a superstar teammate, Leonard only played 38 minutes;
Craig continued to play, and in the last mid-range explosion, this game was 5-of-8 from three-point range, and the two games combined for 39 points, which can be described as the first puzzle piece of the Suns' home game. But will you be able to maintain this performance after going to the away stadium? Apart from Craig, Monty still does not seem to have found another replacement flank to his satisfaction;
The Clippers used the Suns to hit Brother Clip, in fact, created some point-and-point opportunities with good chances, but some shots were not shot, and Batum + Highland + Powell combined 0 of 11 from three-point range;
Compared to G1, Coach Lu has indeed begun to play more cards, and the small lineup has been put up. Some small lineup gameplay has room for improvement, Zubac's time has room to be reduced, and the Clippers also have Plumlee between Zubac and the smaller lineup to choose from. If Lu figured out some of the issues, it would have to be Monty's turn to break the trick.
The G2 Clippers lost by 14 points, but they were not desperate. The sun did wake up, but Lue also figured something out and back home that the Clippers could target.
The first thing Lu figured out should be that Wilson was indeed useful in this series. G1's Wei Shao shot inefficiently and relied on various scattered performances to support an abstract but overall positive game. G2's Wei Shao continues some of the things that G1 has done well, and his defensive defense of ball carriers is impressive. Although the Suns began to know how to take advantage of Wei Shao's space defects, the clipped card did a good job, Wei Shao also gave some responses, was released to catch the ball without blind shot, the transfer ball is fast, some rounds will try to fix the point inward to compress the space and then find the shooter, much smarter than the average basketless rough man. In this game, Wei Shao scored 28 points efficiently, and his physical advantage over the Suns backcourt is obvious, and this advantage is expected to continue to be reflected in subsequent series.
Lu used a guard against Durant, in order to increase physical confrontation and accelerate the consumption of Durant's physical energy. In the case of Durant playing more than 44 minutes per game, this arrangement may be more effective the later in the series. The Clippers are generally strong in backcourt rotation, and backcourt players are faster than frontcourt players and less likely to be directly passed when sticking to the defense.
But objectively speaking, the backcourt defense Durant, the probability is more and more unpreventable, because whether it is a cover pocket out of the ball, focus on the cover of the blocking, as long as the backcourt players are slightly hanged, it is difficult to catch up with and interfere with Durant. Durant wants the ball with his back and back, and the card position confrontation before receiving the ball can certainly consume Du's physical strength, but after Du receives the ball, as long as he can turn around, he still can't interfere.
On another note, Batum was so poor offensively today that he didn't score 0-of-4, so much so that Lue only gave him 19 minutes. It's acceptable in normal times, but not today's situation - the Clippers began to put a small lineup, and with less use of Batum and no use of Covington, the Clippers' small lineup became 1 forward and 4 guards. Given the Suns' roster characteristics and the strength of the Clippers guard, the 4 guards aren't completely impossible. But Lu must use the only forward in the small lineup against the Sun center, in this case, Lu cannot directly "king against king" in the key ball stage, and also needs to use a guard to face Durant.
Does Lu dare to insist that the full-court guard single-handedly defend Durant?
Reality proved that Lu did not have the courage, and he decided to pinch Durant. This allowed the Suns to play out their favorite way of playing:
Durant receives the ball with his back, Paul gets on the ball, the opponent picks up, Durant approaches the ball Paul;
Paul moved the ball to the weak side, Booker made a second start, and fancy responded.
Coupled with Craig's three-point feel today continues to be online, the Clippers are in small lineup mode, and the cost of pinching Durant is too great. If George is there, George vs. Durant, and Kazigo vs. center, the problem is solved. Without George, the options to try at this time are Batum vs. Center and Kazigo vs. Durant. If Lou thinks Batum is in poor form today, he can also try Covington, even if the trial is unsuccessful and loses the match, because:
The situation in the fourth quarter of the Clippers was already unfavorable, and there was little hope of a turnover, and a dead horse could be used as a living horse doctor;
The sun is backwater, the Clippers are not. Lu is likely to win the best, and if he loses, he can accept it with a 1-1 return to the home game. In this case, G2 should be the best opportunity to experiment with various postures.
In addition to not using these two forwards, Lu Peng 5 Xiao also had Hyland in the first version. The small lineup is too testing the integrity of the defense to accept such a big flaw. This employee was stolen in the first round because of Hyland 's distraction.
Since the small lineup did not work, Lu took Zubac again at the end. Paul's two attacks that set the way to win are very typical, the space is fully opened (this time, Craig + Durant + Booker), and the picture of 2-on-2 playing defenders in the middle, which means that if Craig continues to respond, the Clippers are likely to continue to be unable to block the Suns in the middle of G3, and Zubac is basically a toy.
Research understands that a small lineup is very necessary. The second thing that Lu should be clear about is that the future trend of this series is likely to be that the Clippers try to use the change of defense + supplemented by local pinch rotation + full space + singles burst score to fight against the mid-range of the Suns. This is a method that has been proven by theory and practice, and it is effective against the sun.
Monti left some future losses at G2. In addition to Lu Pendulum, Monty continues to swing past Durant's small lineup to play center, while the Suns' small lineup continues to have problems on the defensive end, Hyland Tu Paul, Mann Tu Booker, this kind of ball is difficult to avoid in the Suns swing hour.
And with Biyombo present, Hyland would be hard to do the same thing again.
This short five small of the sun saw some power on the offensive end, and had the capital to fight against the attack. But the Clippers can also rely on the breakthrough advantage of the backcourt to match the space, smooth the gap with the Suns' five small lineups, and Lu's four guards can break through.
In addition, the Suns center was facing the Clippers for five hours, and the opposite player was Mann rather than Wilson. I'm not saying it's okay, although Mann is less accurate in three points than Wei and has achieved the achievement of Gobert with a single brush, but after all, the frequency of three-point shooting is very low, and the threat of holding the ball is not as great as Wei Shao. The question is, Wei Shao may not be able to play other games, and the possibility of playing the Suns is very large, can the Sun center protect the basket when the rest of the Clippers players are standing at the three-point line?
This ball, Wei Shao did not dunk.
Biyongbo may have hope to do it, but his confidence in Dunbao is indeed insufficient.
The Suns pulled one back in G2, with a top four-star mid-range shooting stunt, and even, you'd believe they have the ability to maintain jumper firepower that isn't much lower than that. But the Suns did not sit back and relax, judging from the two home games of the Phoenix, the Clippers did not have to fight them, the energy of Brother Kazi was more than expected, and Wei Shao's strengths were played, and so far, Monty could not find a way to let Durant and Booker rest.
The good news is that if Payne can return, he will bring the Suns' much-needed bench firepower and provide the Suns with a breakout that is not strong right now.
But if the Clippers prolong this series and make George's return possible, it is difficult to say how it will develop later.