Today's NBA regular season, the Clippers defeated the Suns 138-111, there is basically no suspense in this battle, the Suns only trailed by 3 points in the first quarter, the Clippers continued to expand the difference in the second quarter, the Clippers still had the upper hand in the third quarter, and the Suns still wanted to fight back in the final quarter, as a result, Leonard, George and Harden took turns to exert force, the Suns could not withstand it directly, and the Clippers locked the victory with a 15-2 offensive. In terms of statistics, Leonard had 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and 3 turnovers, Harden had 19 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 turnovers, George had 25 points and 7 rebounds, Wei Shao had 9 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists, and the Big Four combined to hit the Suns with 70+19+19, Zubac had 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, and Mann had 14 points and 5 rebounds.
The Clippers have doubled against the Suns this season, Durant did not play in the previous meeting, and the Suns can still find an excuse for losing, but in today's game, Durant appeared, and the Suns lost more, which can only show that the difference in strength between the two sides is obvious. Looking at the whole game, they are all giant teams, what is the difference between the Clippers and the Suns?
First of all, the Suns are an offensive team, but when it comes to scoring firepower, the Clippers are no weaker than the Suns. Secondly, the Clippers have the league's top defense, but the Suns do not, take the first half of the third quarter as an example, after the Clippers focused on defense, we found that the Suns played quite hard every round, and could only force Durant's unreasonable shooting to break the game.
Leonard death wound steal Durant, not long after, Durant singled Wei Shao, but was stealed by Wei Shao, these two rounds are the epitome of the Clippers' tough defense, on the other hand, the Suns really can't prevent anyone, and they lose one or the other, wrapping small cards, George rampage, wrapping Harden, and the beard can revitalize his teammates, and the Suns are completely out of line.
The third point is very critical, the Clippers have Harden and Wei Shao, two organizational masters, the team's chemistry is smooth, and various passes and cuts on the offensive end are coordinated, as for the Suns, it is a typical singles mode, Durant, Booker and Beal are all uncles, no one wants to do the dirty work, and I don't know what Vogel thinks, Booker basically has no organizational ability, and Durant's organization is better than him.
So the same giant model, the Clippers and the Suns are completely two different styles, the former's tactical system is more mature, if the Suns do not seek a trade in the future, then there is no possibility of change, take Booker as an example, he will never sacrifice data, Booker plays is actually very unique, to put it bluntly, Booker is not Curry, and Beal is not Thompson.
After the game, Durant also left the court in frustration, I don't know if the Grim Reaper regretted not taking the initiative to contact Harden in the offseason, if the solar get a beard, I believe their record will be much better, and the round-faced den is also very unfortunate, he really shouldn't have joined the Suns in the first place, how good it would be to stay with the Clippers.
Harden is really the envy of the Suns, the bearded organization's ability is too strong, at the beginning of the first quarter, Harden continued to feed Zubac to score, and in the following round, Harden assisted George to score three points, assisted Mann to make a layup, and only played more than 3 minutes Harden sent 5 assists, and the Suns were afraid that saliva was dripping. But Harden's strongest thing is that he can switch roles at any time on the offensive end and the playmaking end, and in the second quarter, Harden was on fire, scoring 15 points in a single quarter, and continued to focus on organization in the second half, but in the final quarter of the game, Harden hit a three-pointer again.
The Clippers at the end of the third quarter deserved praise, when Harden was substituted, and the Clippers were a little flustered on the offensive end, but they withstood the Suns' counterattack.
Let's take a look at what Leonard had to say after the game, talking about the rebound from the previous loss to the Lakers today, he said: "This is the NBA, you have to play every other night, we have to stop thinking about that loss, but we have to go into the next game with a better mindset and try to win the game." And then that's the point, when it comes to Harden's play, Leonard said, "I don't need a lot of praise, he's James Harden, he's the best point guard in the league, he's made our game easier, everybody benefits from it," yes, Leonard is very analytical, he thinks Harden is still the top point guard in the league.
It can be seen that Leonard likes to be teammates with Harden, it is no exaggeration to say that the arrival of Harden has raised the strength of the Clippers by two levels again. In the words of the commentator, the Clippers have a tendency to be invincible in the West, except for the Nuggets, they are difficult to find opponents in the West, of course, the Clippers have not played against the Timberwolves, but Timberwolves leader Edwards is too young to meet the Clippers and is easy to be deflated.
After beating the Suns, the Clippers are only 2.0 games away from the Nuggets, and the competition in the West is fierce at the moment, and the top four can be regarded as an echelon, because the gap is very small, the Thunder and the Nuggets have not had a good momentum recently, and the Clippers are losing less and winning more, maybe in 2-3 rounds, the Clippers will appear in the top three in the West.