There were a lot of jitters from tip-off to the middle of the first quarter with both teams attempting equal amounts of shots and both teams struggling to find a rhythm offensively.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The difference in the game so far has been capitalizing on wide-open opportunities from three in which both Eric Gordon and Nicolas Batum got off to fast starts to begin the game for the Clippers. Eric Gordon in the first quarter finished with 12 points on 5-6 shooting thanks to Kawhi Leonard’s spacing.
The Clippers did a good job by trapping and playing tight defensive coverage on Kevin Durant to begin the game which played a role in him going 0-4 in the first quarter. Devin Booker has gotten off to an uneven start in his own right in the first quarter going 3-8 and scoring 6 points in that quarter as well as racking up 2 early fouls.
Ty Lue’s defensive game plan to begin the game has the Suns needing to make adjustments going into halftime, especially with the different switches that the Clippers are throwing at Durant and Booker which is making the Suns’ ball movement and spacing tough to deal with.
It didn’t get any easier for the Suns to begin the second quarter as it was still a struggle for Durant to get it going. The Clippers came into the game with a game plan to be very active with their hands while also playing physical defense and not giving the Suns anything easy in the paint.
To bring it a step forward, they’re forcing Durant to have to move the ball out of his hands and for the Suns to play pick-and-roll offense with Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton. Which has so far gone according to plan.
Another stat so far from today’s game is that the bench has only scored 2 points which have come from Bismack Biyombo on 2 free throws. The Suns are a very top-heavy team with depth becoming a little of an Achilles’ heel to begin the series.
The Clippers shooting 51% and 40% from three and the Suns shooting 45% and 38% from three and them only being down 59-54, proves how talented the top-heavy starting lineup is. And the first half proves how much the Suns are missing Cameron Payne’s ability to score off the bench as well.
