Suns 86, Clippers 69
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
Unfortunately, I chose to attend this game and came out of it rather depressed. Was hoping it was just one of those nights, but it looks like it carried over into the first half of the Portland game last night. 26 points at the half.
Luckily, Thornton took over for a stretch in the 3rd to get us back to respectability.