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Pregame notes: Suns ready up to play Clippers in final home game

© Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s what we’re seeing from Footprint Center before the Suns take on the Clippers:

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Injury Update

Phoenix Suns: Jusuf Nurkić (right ankle sprain) OUT | Damion Lee (right meniscus surgery) OUT

Los Angeles Clippers: Kawhi Leonard (right knee inflammation) OUT | James Harden (right foot inflammation) OUT | Daniel Theis (left thumb sprain) AVAILABLE | Joshua Primo (left ankle sprain) OUT

Starters

Phoenix Suns: Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Kevin Durant, Drew Eubanks

Los Angeles Clippers: Russell Westbrook, Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Paul George, Ivica Zubac

Pregame Press Conference Notes

  • Suns’ coach Frank Vogel on tonight’s expectation for Drew Eubanks replacing injured Jusuf Nurkic, in the starting role: “The Denver plan, when those guys came in and both played terrific basketball games in that game and hopefully we can duplicate that tonight.”
  • Vogel on how the Suns have improved defensively from the last time facing the Clippers: “We’re a lot better, still not perfect. We had regression with our defense against the Pelicans last game, but coming into that game, I felt like we were playing our best defensive basketball of the season and far better thannwhat we were doing earlier in the season.”
  • Vogel on if the end of the season is enjoyable and if it feels like playoff basketball:  “I do enjoy it, but I do not enjoy losing, like the game we lost the other night and whatever game we’ve lost, but I do enjoy the attention and focus with guys being super locked in. It’s an ‘every game matters’ type of situation for these regular season games, so it does have a playoff feel. We’ll talk as a staff about having a playoff type of intensity to our approach tonight, but we do play tomorrow night also, so we are not going to play our guys 48 minutes, so we are striking that type of balance. We are still in the 82-game season where we are managing all that stuff, but in terms of the game planning and whatever is necessary to get the job done tonight, I enjoy it.”
  • CLIPPERS HEAD COACH TYRONN LUE
  • Lue on Russell Westbrook being the primary guy tonight: “Just be who he is, attack the paint, getting out in transition, guarding at a high level. Just getting us easy baskets when he can. Just being who Russ (Russell Westbrook) is, we don’t expect him to be James (Harden), we expect him to be Russ.”
  • Lue on what he has seen from Bradley Beal at the point guard position for Phoenix:  “Just can do a lot of everything, catch and shoot, can run pick-and-roll, can make the passes and right reads, great cutter, can play one-on-one. He is just great all around, him and Book (Devin Booker) both have the responsibility of playing the point guard position and making plays, making the right reads. They have been really good and have been dynamic doing it as of late.”
  • Lue on the problems guarding the Phoenix Suns offensively: “A lot of challenges, when you have Book (Devin Booker), KD (Kevin Durant), and Beal (Bradley Beal) , they do a
    great job of scoring the basketball at all three levels. They are the best mid-range shooting team in the league. It is going to be tough, they get to the free throw line, they can make threes, they can make mid-range, they can get to the basket. We just have to be on point defensively, understand our coverages and what we are trying to do. Make sure we execute the game plan.”

Pregame Video

(See the latest on @BurnCitySuns/X)

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

 

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