Ugh, that was ugly. Did the three games in four days finally catch up to the Clippers?
Or is Phoenix really that serious about playing better defense this year?

Phoenix coach Terry Porter could’ve taken some credit. After all, isn’t that he was brought to town to do? But Porter wasn’t about to take too much credit:

“I don’t know if was as much of our defense as bad offense, or both. Both teams had some bad stretches,” Porter said. “For a while, I think both of us had only scored about 68 points before we went on a little spurt.”

Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy wasn’t happy either.

“The effort wasn’t good. Our intensity wasn’t as good as we needed it to be. When a team get the opportunity to roll you, they will,” Dunleavy said.

Now for some of the gory details:

The Clippers shot just 33.8 percent for the night, Phoenix shot 44.6 percent. From behind the 3-point arc, it was positively horrific. L.A. made just 1 of 12 shots, Phoenix made 2 of 14. About the only place either team could hit anything was at the free throw line, where the Clippers shot 71.4 percent and the Suns hit 72 percent

The Clippers formally announced what was merely a formality this afternoon, when they picked up the option for next year on second-year forward Al Thornton’s contract. That was pretty much a given considering Thornton was on the All-Rookie team last year and has the makings of a future All-Star…

Also, coach Mike Dunleavy intimated that a decision on final roster cuts would be made by Thursday or Friday of this week…

Just got word that Baron Davis is expected to resume all basketball related activities in one week. Davis visited UCLA hand specialist Dr. Roy Meals on Monday and was diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left ring finger. He will not require surgery. The finger will be splinted and is expected to heal on its own.

There was a mild breakout of panic when a couple of reports hit the internet last night, saying that Baron Davis could miss 4-6 weeks if his finger injury requires surgery.

I posted a blog about the situation last night, after talking to several players, coaches, and Baron’s agent about the situation and at that point, the general consensus was that it a minor injury and Davis would probably miss this week’s exhibition games, but would be ready to roll for the start of the season.

So what’s the real story?

Well, the 4-to-6 week estimate is a worst-case scenario. Davis is seeing Dr. Roy Meals at UCLA this afternoon and we’re expecting to hear the results later on today. But most of the people we spoke with today, including coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy, felt the more likely scenario would be a three-week recovery period. That’s three weeks from the actual injury, which was last Friday, October 17.

“I’m not a doctor, but that’s not my impression of the case,” Dunleavy said, when asked if he expected Davis to miss an extended period of time. “I don’t want to influence a doctor, but off of what I’ve heard, it was very minor and he needed to see a specialist.

“It’s more than likely be anywhere from under three weeks, splinted or whatever, and depending on pain tolerance, maybe sooner.”

In other words, officially cross Davis out of this week’s exhibition games, but a return the first week of the season is still a possibility.

As for that worst-case scenario, Dunleavy didn’t really want to consider it, but if it did come to that, here’s what he’d do.

“We’d have to start thinking about a third guard in case someone got in foul trouble or injured,” Dunleavy said. “We’d probably try Eric (Gordon) there some as well.”

What are the chances that Baron Davis, Marcus Camby and Tim Thomas all miss the rest of the exhibiton season? Pretty high actually. Camby (bruised right heel) admitted Sunday that his new goal is to be ready to go in the season opener against the Lakers on October 29. Davis (sprained finger) was rather wishy-washy when I asked if he’d be back next week: “Something like that … we’ll have to play it by ear.”

Of the three, Thomas (groin) seems the closest to returning, but a groin injury is the kind of thing you make extra sure of before you come back, because it’s so easy to re-injure.

“Me and BD have been out of the lineup, Tim has been out of the lineup. We never really played a second of the whole preseason together. But after the last game of the preseason, we got like four or five days of practice so hopefully we can get a lot accomplished and be ready to roll,” Camby said Sunday evening after the Clippers exhibition win over FC Barcelona.

The question then becomes whether any of those three players will miss more than the exhibition season. I spoke with several players in the locker room and no one seemed all that concerned about Davis’ injury except Camby, who cryptically mentioned, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be back before BD.”

Davis’ X-rays were negative, but an MRI on Friday was inconclusive so he’s still got to get an opinion from the hand specialist he’ll see Monday, so no one knows for sure yet. Second-year forward Al Thornton seemed more optimistic.

“I think Baron’s going to be ready for that first game,” Thornton said. “He’s gotta be ready: It’s the Lake show, Staples Center, national TV, I think he’s just playin’ with y’all.

“It’s the left hand so he’ll be OK. It’s just his guiding hand.”

So which teammate is more in the know? Hard to say, but Camby’s locker is right next to Davis.’

Just got done talking to coach Mike Dunleavy and he mentioned that some of the Clippers veterans –Cuttino Mobley, Chris Kaman, Ricky Davis — would play a few less minutes today. Specifically he mentioned that Skinner would start in place of Kaman.