The Phoenix Suns are one win away from reaching their first NBA Finals since 1993 as they took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers with an 84-80 win in the Western Conference final Saturday.
Devin Booker scored a game-high 25 points as he bounced back a little from a couple of poor performances in Game 2 and 3 of the series, although he still didn’t shoot well from the field.
Booker, who once again started the game wearing a mask, quickly took it off after he missed a shot. The mask was there to protect his broken nose, but it clearly was bothering him and he seemed to play more aggressively and decisively without it, to the Suns’ benefit.
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Thankfully for the Suns, DeAndre Ayton kept up his hot play as he went off for 19 points and 22 rebounds while nearly playing 42 minutes in the game.
The Clippers had no answer for the physical play of Ayton on both sides of the ball and, as has been the case for nearly every game in the series now, Saturday’s affair was a tightly-contested, physical contest that lent itself well to Ayton’s game.
Shot-making (from all over the floor) during the game proved to be a key commodity and, arguably, the difference. Phoenix made four more field goals than the Clippers and shot a better percentage than them at the free-throw line (85.7 per cent compared to 65.6 per cent).
Here’s a few takeaways from a pivotal Suns win Saturday night.
Beautiful basketball this game was not
Even if you’re a fan of defence, Saturday’s game was still a rather ugly affair. It was less great defence and more just poor shooting from both sides that led to the two teams combining to shoot just 34.3 per cent from the floor an even more dreadful 9-of-51 (17.6 per cent) from three-point range.
Obviously, with shooting numbers like that, it’s clear that everyone shot poorly, but the stars on both teams all were particularly off as Paul George was only 5-of-20 from the floor and, once again, missed a key free throw in the dying seconds of the game.
Meanwhile, Booker and Chris Paul combined to go just 14-of-44 from the floor, including an 0-for-8 mark from deep.
There was even a near-four-minute stretch midway through the fourth quarter in which neither team scored, the game locked at a 71-70 stalemate before Paul found Ayton on an alley-oop.
During this stretch George went 0-for-4 from the field and Paul went 0-for-3.
Making matters worse, the final minute of the game turned into a free-throw shooting contest. Paul was clutch nailing five of six attempts but the Clippers, as a team, made just 4-of-8. Los Angeles did try to miss a few intentionally to score more, but it came down to clutch play with no defence and Los Angeles couldn’t convert.
Not exactly the most thrilling end.
A win is, of course a win, and the Suns likely don’t care how it happened, but that doesn’t exactly mean it was all that fun to watch.
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Clippers have a right to be pretty mad
The Clippers had many opportunities to take the lead in the fourth quarter and get right back into the series, but ultimately squandered their chances.
With that said, however, the officials did them no favours as a couple of key non-calls came back to hurt them.
Just take a look at these two clips:
Wow obvious foul on Bridges not called. Should’ve been And 1 for Mann#PHXvsLAC pic.twitter.com/My13eV6Mmm
— Tony Clements (@TonyClementsTC) June 27, 2021
The NBA reviews damn near EVERY out of bounds play in moments like this.
To not review this one, which is CLEARLY off Cam Payne is absolutely inexcusable.
pic.twitter.com/2HpEe1BJir
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) June 27, 2021
In the first one it was very clear that Terance Mann was fouled, but he didn’t get the and-one call and in the second one, while it’s close, the ball appeared to go off Cameron Payne’s hand, which would’ve meant an extra Clippers possession.
Missed calls happen, but what has to be particularly frustrating if you’re the Clippers is the fact that the Payne play wasn’t reviewed. In an era of basketball where everything is reviewed it was very odd that it wasn’t, and while there’s no way to know if the extra possession could’ve helped the Clippers, the non-review did appear to hurt them.
Los Angeles has a right to be pretty upset right now.
Will Chris Paul finally break his odd curses?
Paul is on the verge of making his first-ever Finals, but, given his heartbreaking playoff record over the span of his career, he’s understandably not all that giddy just yet.
In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols immediately after the game, when Paul was asked about being up 3-1, he made a point to remind Nichols of the “bad experiences” he’s had up 3-1 in his career.
Postgame interview with @CP3 – loved the honesty when I asked him about going up 3-1: “I don’t want to talk about 3-1. Got a lot of bad experiences with that one.” Just as real was him talking about his daughter at the end here…very sweet. pic.twitter.com/JQL2UHaQ3C
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 27, 2021
Paul, of course, is referring to the infamous collapse he suffered in the Western Conference semifinals while with the Lob City Clippers in 2015, when his team blew a 3-1 lead to the Houston Rockets.
Additionally, in 2012, Paul, again with the Clippers, nearly blew a 3-1 series lead to the Memphis Grizzlies, before squeaking out a Game 7 win.
In 2018, Paul technically broke his 3-1 curse while with the Rockets himself as Houston took care of business against the Utah Jazz in the second round, but that then led to, perhaps, the largest heartbreak he’s suffered his entire career. In his first conference finals appearance, he saw his Rockets squad fail to close out the Golden State Warriors after being up 3-2.
Making matters worse with that situation, an injury kept him out of Game 6 and 7, not to mention, in Game 7, the Rockets infamously missed 27-straight threes.
So you’ll have to excuse Paul if he’s feeling a little superstitious right now, just one win away from the Finals with a 3-1 lead to get it done. The fates haven’t been kind to him in similar situations.
