Suns Win Again and Take 2-0 Lead
- Matt Elvy
- Jun 23, 2021
- 3 min read
Phoenix defeat the LA Clippers 104-103.
Behind Cam Payne's career night and a game winning dunk by Deandre Ayton, the Suns were able to hold off the Clippers' attempted comeback.
Cam Payne had a career high 29 points, along with 9 assists, 0 turnovers, 2 steals and 2 blocks. The Clippers seemed so concerned with Booker and Ayton throughout the game, that Cam had multiple open lanes to the rim.
The game winning inbounds play, was something that longer term Suns fans will have seen all the way back in the dark ages of 2017, in the midst of a 23 win season. Here's the side-by-side of the 2 winning plays:
Click the image to see the video.
After losing game 1, the expected adjustments from the Clippers came early, with Ty Lue changing his starting line-up to include Patrick Beverley and Ivica Zubac. Both moves seemed to be an attempt to slow down the 2 Suns stars in Booker and Ayton. The Beverley move worked quite well for the Clippers, as Booker had an off night, by his standards.
LA planned to get under his skin by playing him physically and although he didn't seem too bothered, as he got physical himself as well, picking up 2 offensive fouls in the 1st quarter. He struggled from the field all night, shooting only 31% from the field and committing 7 turnovers. Booker is such a threat though, that his gravity opened up the floor for everyone else. Another wrinkle to Booker's night was a Steve Nash-esque bloody nose, in the 3rd quarter. Beverley reached in attempting to steal the ball and in the process head-butted Booker on the bridge of his nose. He would head to the locker room for stitches. Luckily unlike the Nash incident in 2007, the trainers could stop the bleeding and the Suns went on to win.
This game was another defensive battle with only the Clippers cracking the 30-point mark in a quarter, scoring 32 in the 4th.
The Suns got off to a shaky start allowing a 8-2 start by LA. A time-out and a 9-0 run changed this and they finished the 1st quarter up by 3. As has been the case throughout the Playoffs, the Suns went to Ayton to get some early, easy buckets and he delivered, ending the period with 12 points on 6 for 8 shooting. DA was huge in the 3rd quarter as well. He had a run of 3 straight possessions where he impacted with either a defensive stop or a score. The of course, to end the game, there was that inbounds play. We were all definitely on the edge of our seats for that one. Ayton's 24 points were a Playoff career high for him, he also added 14 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.
Cam Johnson and Dario Saric had nice games off the bench. Both guys scored 11 points. Cam was extremely efficient, scoring all 5 of his shot attempts. Dario even had another dunk! - I'm convinced that the team have a wager on how many dunks he can get in this Playoff run, as I don't remember him dunking this much during the season.
Bridges and Crowder both had quiet games, but I think they were focusing more on defence.
Here's the game flow from Viziball
Also, here are the highlights from Cam Payne and Deandre Ayton's performances
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