Oct 31, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) shoots against Los Angeles Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. (55) during the first half at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
The Phoenix Suns completed another comeback tonight to pick up their third-straight win, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 125-119.
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Phoenix improved to 4-1 on the season with the road win, while the Kawhi Leonard-less Clippers dropped to 2-3.
Phoenix seemed like it couldn’t do anything right in the first half, getting outrebounded 33-14, shooting 16-for-39 (41%) from the field compared to 27-for-50 (54%) for the Clippers and giving up 11 points off turnovers.
The Suns were down by as much as 21 and trailed 70-52 at halftime, but made an incredible 15-straight shots to start the third quarter. This was part of a 47-25 run to start the second half that carried over to the fourth quarter.
After this big run, the Suns pretty much the game away with another 16-5 run that gave them a 115-107 lead with 2:42 to go. Royce O’Neale sealed the game with a 3-pointer to put the Suns ahead 118-112 with 44 seconds to go. Phoenix had not come back from down 20 points or more on the road in over 70 contests, making this the first time it did so since 2017, according to the broadcast.
O’Neale, who had already been extremely impressive this season, finished with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting (5-of-6 from 3) off the bench. Several other Suns finished with season or career highs as well.
Rookie Ryan Dunn got the start for the injured Bradley Beal and once again continued his impressive start of his career, ending with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting (4-of-9 from 3) and four rebounds in 34 minutes.
After a season-high 33 points last game, a headband-less Devin Booker carried the Suns with his first 40-point game of the year, concluding with 40 points on 11-of-18 shooting (5-of-9 for 3), eight assists, five rebounds and three steals in 38 minutes.
Tyus Jones had his first double-digit assist game of the season, finishing with seven points and 11 assists to only one turnover.
Kevin Durant snapped his streak of 25-point games to start the year, as he had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, five rebounds and four assists, and played excellent defense at the rim in the fourth quarter with two blocks.
The Suns completely turned the tides on the Clippers from the first half, shooting 26-of-43 (60.5%) and 12-of-23 (52.2%) from 3 compared to 18-of-43 (41.9%) shooting and 5-of-17 (29.4%) from 3 for L.A., winning the rebounding battle 25-15 and scoring 19 points off eight Clippers turnovers in the second half. The Suns won the second half 73-49 overall.
Here were some reactions to the game on X:
