On January 9, Beijing time, the NBA regular season Clippers hosted the Suns, both sides were back-to-back, and the main lineup could play, before the game, the Clippers 22-13 ranked 4th in the West, while the Suns were 19-17 ranked 8th in the West, Leonard and Durant's battle is undoubtedly the biggest attraction of the game. Clippers starting lineup: Harden + Mann + George + Leonard + Zubac, Suns starters: Booker + Beal + Allen + Durant + Nurkic.
In the first quarter of the game, at the beginning of the game, Harden fed Zubac scored 4 points in a row, Nurkic threw and Beal responded with a layup, George scored three points, Mann made a layup, Leonard dunked, these three rounds also came from Harden's assist, the beard is too showy, the Clippers opened up the difference, Durant jumper, Beal dunked, Nurkic was also scoring, the Suns chased back in waves, Allen overtook with three points, Zubac missed two free throws, Wei Shao singled Booker and scored 4 points in a row, Booker was not to be outdone, cut 5 points in a row in response, Durant chased three points and soared, Wei Shao assisted Zubac with both hands dunk, the two sides started a tug-of-war, rotation time Wei Shao and George led the team, Booker hit a jumper, Wei Shao immediately made 2+1, George hit a three-point shot, and the Clippers led by 3 points at 34-31 in the single quarter.
Harden didn't score in the first quarter and dished out five assists. In the second quarter, Harden and Leonard came back, Gordon made a three-point shot, Harden threw a 2+1, and then hit a three-pointer, and he scored 6 points in a row, and the Suns side Beal, Durant and Okogie were also scoring, and the two sides chased me, Durant suddenly broke out and cut 7 points in a row, jump shot + layup +There are all kinds of three-point shots, Leonard singled Durant, turned over and hit a jumper, Nurkic and Mann exchanged three-point shots, Powell and Mann scored three consecutive three-point shots, the Clippers led by 6 points, Gordon and Beal made a force, the Suns launched a counterattack, Harden went down to the earth to score three points to stop the bleeding, the Suns frequently scored free throws, Zubac hat Nurkic, George fired outside, Durant 2+1, Beal dunked, and the Clippers 71-63 Suns at halftime.
Halftime statistics, Harden 15 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, 15 points all from the second quarter, George 15 points and 4 rebounds, Leonard 9 points, Westbrook 7 points and 3 assists, Zubac 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Mann 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Powell 5 points and 2 rebounds. On the Suns' side, Durant had 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Beal had 11 points and 2 steals, Booker had 9 points, Nurkic had 8 points and 2 assists, Allen had 6 points, and Gordon had 7 points and 2 assists.
Yibian fought again, the defensive intensity of the Clippers increased significantly, Durant and Beal took turns to play iron, Mann and Booker soared each other for three points, Leonard hit a jumper, and then Booker did not stick to three points, Leonard dunked, the point difference returned to double digits, the Suns scored hard, Beal made a layup to stop the bleeding in time, Mann three points and three points did not stick, the Clippers shooting rate was actually not high, George scored 4 points in a row, Zubac hooked his hand, at this time the difference was 15 points, the Suns fought back tenaciously, Durant and Booker scored successively, during this time Harden was not on the court, the Clippers offense came to a standstill, Wei Shao desperately grabbed the rebound, and then steal Durant, Zubac made a layup to help the Clippers stabilize the situation, and the Suns continued to fight backAs a result, George hit an unreasonable three-pointer, Gordon hit a three-pointer, and the Clippers ended the third quarter 101-91 Suns.
In the crucial final quarter of the game, can the Clippers withstand the Suns' offensive? Durant scored three points, Powell dunked violently, Durant continued to make fouls and cut points, Leonard jumped and Harden responded with three points, Theis dunked, Powell fired outside, Leonard hit a backward jumper, at this time the Clippers had a lead of 20 points, the Suns really had no choice, the strength was not as good as the Clippers, Kofei, George and Theis took turns to score, the Suns really couldn't prevent one, Vogel was speechless, the game entered garbage time, both sides began to change to the bench lineup to practice, Durant looked depressed, sat on the bench in a daze, and finally the Suns lost to the Clippers 111-138.
Clippers stats: George scored 25 points and 7 rebounds in 10 of 19, is the Clippers' highest scoring player, including the most shots on the team, and according to statistics, George's regular season career total points surpassed Grant Hill and officially entered the top 100 in NBA history. Leonard made 8 of 15 shots, got 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and 3 turnovers, including the previous game against the Lakers, Leonard gave us the feeling that he didn't have any strength.
Instead, George played more like the Clippers boss. Harden 19 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 turnovers, is the assist king of this game, Harden fired 15 points in the second quarter, and did not shoot in the third quarter, and scored a three-point shot in the final quarter, perhaps this is the reason why the Clippers are strong, the Big Four who feel good will let whoever attack more, the Clippers are now very dependent on Harden, once the beard is off the court to rest, the Clippers' offense will have problems.
Zubac 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, was fed by Harden and Wei Shao in turn, becoming a new generation of cake Mamba, Mann played well with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, according to NBA big data statistics, Mann entered 24 years after 17 three-pointers 10, and before that it was 77 15, it can be seen that Mann's projection has improved a lot. In addition to the starting five tigers, the bench player Wei Shao 9 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, despite the small score, Wei Shao is quite active, and the defensive end is a headache for Durant, for example, in the second half of the third quarter, Durant singled Wei Shao, but was directly taken out by the latter, and the Grim Reaper was quite annoyed, and it is estimated that he wants to hit people.
Powell had 14 points and five rebounds and was also the hero of the Clippers' victory, Theis had six points and three rebounds. The strength of the Suns is indeed inferior to the Clippers, the Clippers offense is not worthy of the Suns, and the defense is too tough, not only that, the Clippers have Harden and Wei Shao, two organizational masters, the players cooperate tacitly, and the chemistry is smooth, on the other hand, the Suns have no one to organize, Durant, Booker and Beal can only take turns to play singles, which is the biggest gap between the two teams.
Suns stats: Durant 30 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Booker 20 points, 5 assists and 6 turnovers, Beal 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers, Nurkic 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Allen also contributed 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Gordon 12 points and 2 assists, I don't know if Roundface Deng left the Clippers in the offseason and regretted joining the Suns. After this game, the gap between the Clippers and the Nuggets continues to narrow, the pattern of the West has changed dramatically, the Clippers have enough strength to rush to the top three, and the Suns are not in a good situation, because the current Western Conference play-off region is quite competitive, the Rockets, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Warriors, these five teams have similar records.