Suns vs Clippers NBA Handicapping
Tables have turned recently and against all odds (at least from the conventional wisdom of the past few decades) the Clippers are the premier pro basketball ticket in southern California. [ad-4468020]
The Lakers, the Clips’s fellow tenant in the Staples Center, are in a trough currently, and “L.A.’s other team” is thriving with a thrilling rotation of players and coaching from Doc Rivers.
Date/Time: Monday, March 10, 10:30 pm EST
Venue: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Line: Clippers -10
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The Clip will look to extend their winning streak to eight games when the Suns come to town on Monday night. Los Angeles is cruising along with the dynamic trio of walking-dunk-highlight Blake Griffin, physically imposing big DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul, maybe the best point guard in the game.
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The Clippers rank tops in the NBA in points scored per game (107.8) as well as third in the league in assists per (24.4), so this is clearly a team that thrives with the right mix of stars – and really you’d expect nothing less from a successful L.A. hoops team.
Phoenix has been a surprise story in its own right this season, with the team’s play definitely exceeding expectations in 2013-14. Everyone assumed the Suns would be an easy mark, a pushover in a tough division and conference.
Well, thanks to the scoring shooting guard Goran Dragic and the workmanlike rebounding of Mason Plumlee, the Suns are sitting 10 games above .500, and third in the Pacific division (behind the Clippers and Golden State).
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Point guard Eric Bledsoe has also been a revelation for the Suns, but he has been out with a knee injury and likely won’t return until Wednesday. Phoenix have been playing a similar style to the Clippers; the ball is pushed down the court quickly and poured into the hoop at a frequent rate (the Suns rank sixth in the league in scoring).
This suggests that we’ll see an awful lot of points on the scoreboard in Tinseltown on Monday night.
The Suns have levelled off somewhat of late after a superb start to the season. The smart money is on the Clippers because even with Phoenix’s valiant effort with a blue-collar roster, Los Angeles is just so talented and can hurt you in a myriad of ways.
If you do a responsible job against the massive Jordan, you have to worry about Griffin flying over your head.
If you double-team Griffin, you still have Paul tearing around at a breakneck pace, flying off of screens and creating passing and scoring lanes in a nanosecond. Secondary scoring option Jamal Crawford will be out with an injured calf, but that may not matter, as far as Phoenix’s chances are concerned.
The Clippers also have J.J. Redick and Darren Collison in support, and we haven’t yet talked about L.A.’s recent acquisition of former Pacers alpha-dog Danny Granger. Basically, the Clippers are a really good team that should go deep in the Western Conference.
Phoenix has been a lovely story for most of the season, but I think the shine is finally starting to wear off the apple. It’s been refreshing to see, but the Suns are a team that have been playing out of their depth for some time now.
It doesn’t help that Bledsoe likely won’t play.
Not that the Suns couldn’t keep the deficit under ten points or even leave L.A. with a win, but the Clippers’s “Big Three” (hey, remember when Doc Rivers had Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in Boston? Yeah, kind of like that; the Celtics won a title), are just damn near impossible to contain.
Clippers 112, Suns 101
