Clippers get defensive on Suns

Inglewood, CA (News4usOnline) – It helps to have James Harden on your team. The Los Angeles Clippers got the benefit of having Harden suiting up for the franchise in their home opener against the Phoenix Suns Friday night at Intuit Dome.

Against the Suns, Harden used a fast start of 14 points in the first quarter to help lift the Clippers to a 129-102 win Friday night. 

Newcomer Bradley Beal talked afterward about what it’s like to be playing alongside Harden instead of having to play against him. 

“I love it because I have always been, you know, been a fan of his and watching him from afar,” Beal remarked. “You know, competing against him, obviously. I was always a huge fan of how he approaches the game, approaches his craft. He works on his game. He’s a tremendous worker and it shows. I think the biggest thing is how unselfish of a player he is and I get to see that first hand and it’s been unbelievable.”  

Harden getting off quickly helped the Clippers to shoot the ball at a good clip (55 percent) in the first period. But Phoenix shot the ball a little bit better (56 percent) and the Suns found themselves just a point behind the Clippers (34-33) after one period of play. 

What separated the two teams was the defense of the Clippers. Los Angeles opened up the game in the middle periods, outscoring the Suns 38-23 in the second quarter and 34-21 in the third, leading to the blowout win. 

“You still wouldn’t even start the game the right way,” Harden said. “You know, we gave up fast break points and offensive rebounds and things like that, things that we can correct, but, happy how we just bounced back and, you know, how to hold it to what they were doing and defensively with the built pressure and got some steals and got some easy buckets, but every game isn’t going to be perfect. So, we just got to find ways to win.”

Harden used that 14 points he accumulated in the first quarter enroute to a 26-point blitz in the opening half. Harden finished the game with a team-high 30 points for the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points to back up Harden’s electrifying play in the first half. 

The win was a good bounce back for the Clippers following the team’s opening season loss to the Utah Jazz. Leonard said the team was able to learn from that road defeat.  

“Oh, for sure. I mean, for everybody, the whole coaching staff and players,” Leonard said. “Just got to be more aggressive on our defensive end and try not to be lackadaisical. We want to be into bodies, and forcing stuff into the paint, so I think we kind of did that tonight.”  

After the first period, the Clippers kept up their hot-shooting the rest of the game. The Suns cooled off considerably as the Clippers held Phoenix to just 41 percent shooting from the field for the entire game. Phoenix star Devin Booker was limited to 18 points off a subpar 5 of 10 shooting in field goal attempts. 

“It felt good to start, but obviously not the result we wanted,” Booker said. “Another one tomorrow.” 

During his postgame press conference remarks, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was more inclined to talk about the team’s defense and the play of two particular individuals not named James Harden. 

“Well, yeah, James [Harden] was able to make shots, but I thought what really turned the tide was Kris Dunn covering the game,” Lue said. “His energy, his defense. I thought John Collins, the energy, coming off the bench. I thought he did a really good job of just picking up our energy, picking up our defensive intensity.”  

That intensity was fueled by what the team didn’t do against Utah, Harden said. 

“Yeah, we chasing things up defensively that helped us a little bit better, so. It’s a long game,” said Harden. “We find out what works, but it doesn’t work and obviously, hopefully we can get wins with, you know, trying to figure out who we are and how we’re going to play, but, you know. it doesn’t always happen like that, but tonight was a good one for us.”