NBA Picks 3/4 – LA Clippers @ Phoenix Suns

By Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

NBA Picks 3/4 – LA Clippers @ Phoenix Suns

The Los Angeles Clippers (32-28) conclude an eight-game, bicoastal road trip against the Phoenix Suns (28-33) tonight at Footprint Center on TNT. This is the fourth and final regular season meeting between the Pacific division rivals. The Suns won the first three games against the Clippers, winning twice in Los Angeles in October and picking up a 111-109 victory at home on Jan. 27. The Suns have won four straight overall against the Clippers. Los Angeles is a 2-point favorite and the total is 225.5.

The Clippers are coming off a 108-102 defeat on the road against their crosstown rival Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. They also fell to the Lakers 106-102 two nights earlier on Feb. 28. In Sunday’s loss, the Clippers trailed by 20 points (86-66) late in the third quarter and then went on a 22-7 run to cut the deficit down to five (93-88) with about eight minutes left in the game. The Lakers stretched the lead back up to double digits, and held on for the win.

NBA Picks 3/4 – LA Clippers @ Phoenix Suns

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 33 points (13-23 FG, 3-7 3Pt, 4-5 FT) and pulled down ten rebounds in the loss. It was his first double-double of the year. Kris Dunn added 15 points (7-12 FG, 1-5 FT), four assists, two rebounds, one steal and a block. The Clippers’ leading scorer Norman Powell left the game in the first quarter due to right hamstring soreness. He had four points in nine minutes before exiting with the injury. Los Angeles has lost five of their last six games. 

Phoenix is coming off a 116-98 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home on Sunday night. The Suns led by two points (51-49) at halftime but were outscored 67-47 after the intermission. Phoenix has lost seven straight games against Minnesota. Kevin Durant scored a team-high 26 points (10-23 FG, 3-9 3Pt, 3-7 FT) and added ten rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 38 minutes. Phoenix has dropped four of their last five games and eight of their last 10. 

GAME STORYLINES: LOS ANGELES

In July 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers signed superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as free agents with the expectations that the duo would lead the franchise to deep playoff runs and at least one NBA title. Unfortunately, an NBA title never came close to happening as both players — particularly Leonard — were constantly injured during the five seasons they played together. With the exception of the 2020 Orlando bubble playoffs — where there was a four-month layoff during the season due to the COVID-19 outbreak — Kawhi Leonard has never played an entire postseason with the Clippers. 

The Clippers let Paul George walk as a free agent during the summer which put an official end to the Paul George-Kawhi Leonard experiment and ushered in somewhat of a new era for the franchise. The loss of George combined with the unknown status of Kawhi Leonard left the Clippers in a precarious position. Last year, Leonard was shut down for the season during Game Three of their Western Conference first-round series against Dallas, and there was not much information on his status afterwards — which has become the norm for Kawhi Leonard and his injury status throughout his career. The Clippers did re-sign guard James Harden to a 2-year, $70 million extension in July.

With Paul George gone and Kawhi Leonard’s status unknown, no one was sure what to expect from the 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers. Could they somehow stay afloat without Kawhi Leonard? Or would they become a lottery team? The former happened as veteran guard Norman Powell (career-high 23.8 pts, 3.5 rebs, 1.3 stls, 3.3 threes, 49.4% from 2, 42.4% from 3) and 11-time All-Star James Harden (21.6 pts, 8.5 asts, 5.8 rebs, 2.9 threes) carried the team while Kawhi was out and kept the Clippers in playoff contention. The duo has put up almost identical production (combined 45.4 ppg) to what Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (46.3 ppg) did last season. The Clippers went 19-15 without Leonard. 

NBA Picks 3/4 – LA Clippers @ Phoenix Suns

After missing the first 34 games of the year, Kawhi Leonard made his season debut on Jan. 4 against the Atlanta Hawks. He’s averaging 17.9 points, 5 rebounds, 2,7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.9 threes while shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from long distance across 19 games. The 33-year-old, six-time All-Star still misses games due to rest but he’s playing very well of late — he’s scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games — and could give the Clippers a Big Three-like component if he can stay healthy for the rest of the season. 

Center Ivica Zubac (15.4 ppg, 12.6 rebs, 1.2 blks, 61.8% from 2), athletic forward Derrick Jones Jr. (10.4 ppg, 3.5 rebs, 1.2 stls, 51.6% from 2) along with recent acquisitions Bogdan Bogdanovic (10.6 ppg, 3.1 asts, 2.1 threes in 8 gms with LAC) and Ben Simmons (6.8 ppg, 5.2 rebs, 5 asts, 1.4 stls, 58.3% from 2 in 5 gms with LAC) are excellent complimentary pieces alongside the Clippers star trio. The 27-year-old Zubac is having a career-year in his 9th season. Simmons was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and a three-time All-Star, he can be a huge addition if he’s locked in. 

GAME STORYLINES: PHOENIX

In less than 4 full seasons, the Phoenix Suns have gone from being up 2-0 in the 2021 NBA Finals to currently sitting at 28-33 and in 11th place in the loaded Western Conference standings. They are currently 3.5 games behind the 10th place Dallas Mavericks for the final play-in spot. What makes the Suns situation even more dire is they have the highest payroll in the NBA at 219.6 million and aren’t close to contending for an NBA championship.

Embarrassing playoff exits in 2022 and 2023, along with rumored team in-fighting caused the implosion — head coach Monty Williams was fired and young players were jettisoned — of the relatively young Phoenix Suns team that advanced to the 2021 NBA Finals. The Suns attempt to form a Big Three of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant prior to the 2023-24 season has been a disaster up to this point as they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Minnesota last year and are now a season-low five games below .500. 

The Suns were unable to move Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant at the trade deadline and are now in the dreaded position of playing out the remainder of the season with no sort of direction. Are the Suns going to fight to make it to the play-in tournament and possibly advance to become fodder for one of the elite teams in the first round of the playoffs? Or will they began “resting” the Big Three more often?

Despite the underwhelming season as a team, the superstar tandem of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker have been excellent. The 36-year-old Durant is averaging a team-high 26.7 points, 6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 2.4 threes per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 39.9 percent from beyond the arc through 48 games in his 18th season. He was selected to his 15th All-Star game last month. The 28-year-old, 10th year Kentucky product Booker is averaging 26 points, 6.9 assists, 4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 2.7 threes per game while shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and 89.9 percent from the free throw line. He became the Suns all-time leading scorer (15,666) on Feb. 3 at Portland.

With the Suns slipping further and further out of playoff contention, they appear to be making a concerted effort to develop younger players like 25-year-old Bol Bol (18 ppg, 7 rebs, 1.5 blks, 2.8 threes over last 4 gms) and 27-year-old Nick Richards (9 ppg, 9.7 rebs, 1 blks, 59.3% from 2 in 21 gms with PHO). Bol developed sort of a cult following after being a highly-rated high school player in the class of 2018. He’s had a nondescript NBA career up to this point but it appears as if the Suns are going to give him a featured role on the team for the rest of the season. He’ll have the chance to boost his NBA career and possibly earn a more prominent role in the NBA going forward. Richards was acquired from the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 15 and has established himself as the Suns starting center.

THE PICK: CLIPPERS (-2)

Both teams enter tonight’s game struggling but the Clippers have more to play for while the Suns appear to have checked out on this season. Also, the Clippers are 0-3 against the Suns this season, I expect they’ll play hard tonight and avoid getting swept by an underachieving Suns team. Lay the Points and take the Clippers tonight!