The Phoenix Suns Face a Big Test Against Clippers, Will They Pass It?

The Phoenix Suns Face a Big Test Against Clippers, Will They Pass It?

The Phoenix Suns face one of their biggest tests of the season on Wednesday night at home against the Los Angeles Clippers and while there will be no Kevin Durant in that game a big test also provides the opportunity for the Suns to notch that big signature win

They’ve been waiting for let’s break it down you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day we are back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we are part of the locked on podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons a riter at suns.com and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get

Your podcast say big thank you for making locked on suns your first listen here on this Wednesday another Suns game day they host the Clippers thank you for finding us wherever you might be we are free and available on all podcast platforms including YouTube so just hit

That follow or subscribe button get a new show in your feed every Monday through Friday become a locked on suns every day or and get locked on to the team right along with me each and every day we have a lot to get to today Clippers game who are the Suns

Better than in the west but we’re starting with what lineups have worked for the Phoenix Suns Today’s Show brought to you by the game time app download the game time app create an account and use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase it’s an interesting question when we talk about

Lineups right because the Suns don’t have any that have gotten any real run together they have I mean dozens upon dozens more than a hundred lineups on their page on the website cleaning the glass on nba.com whatever stats you use the Suns have not been able to get a lot of

Continuity and so that makes reading their lineup data and trying to understand and what works hard but luckily we don’t just have data we have the ey test we have what we’ve all been watching and even with that limited sample size with Beal now healthy and

Even Booker and Durant having a fair bit of time under their belt we can get a little bit of a sense of what works and what doesn’t with that said let’s talk about what works and what doesn’t big picture for this team the suns are 12th thin net

Rating which is about not as high as it’s been all season they are 13th in offense and 13th in defense if you just were to look over the past two weeks which is something that cleaning the glass will show you the sun’s record over the past two weeks

Is 4 and three of course lost three in a row one four in a row they are 15th in offense over that stretch but 10th in defense so it’s been an interesting slate of games obviously with the losing streak followed by the winning streak that’s odd but on top of

That how they’ve been winning these games is a little strange as well they have had some lock down defensive moments that fourth quarter against the Wizards obviously playing Charlotte and um Portland certainly helps and even Orlando and Houston are good teams but offense is not their strong suit either

So what you would probably say is the sons have just taken care of business but within a lineup standpoint what’s interesting to me the reason I wanted to do this segment is to show one that the sun’s best offense has been a best defense has been a good

Offense but also what are the common components of their best offensive units and their best defensive units and what do those units do well all right but let’s start here the sun’s best lineup has been also one of the best lineups in the entire NBA that is Booker Gordon Allen

Durant nurkic I’ve talked about that group a bunch on the podcast and for good reason they are plus 26 per 100 possessions together and as I said they’ve been good on both ends of the Court they have a 125 net rating which as a point of comparison would

Be the best offense in the NBA by a good margin they have a 90 9.6 defensive rating which would be Far and Away the best defense in the NBA and that is the sun’s most played lineup and it is the most effective lineup we saw that group play well against

Houston I believe that fiveman unit started against or against Dallas and it’s had some some success now that lineup obviously because it’s played the most and all the things I just said it’s the most indicative of the Suns overall what I mean by that is that that lineup makes shots

It limits opponents from making shots but it turns the ball over and can’t get a rebound and doesn’t Force turnover so it loses the turnover battle and the rebounding battle and it wins by just putting the ball in the basket and preventing that on the other end that’s kind of interesting right

Because that means that they’re winning in spite of some easily fixable stuff they’ve been dominant in spite of making unprofessional mistakes things that they should not be struggling with so where does that leave us well the biggest thing is Beal is now healthy so that group’s not going to be the

Starting unit is not going to be the group that plays the most night toight which brings us to another very good offensive lineup which has has been Booker Beal Allen Durant nkit the new starting lineup that unit has played 73 possessions and has a 137 offensive rating absolutely

Incredible and it’s a little bit more close to what we would have expected they have barely turned the ball over which is awesome but they’ve had even worse offensive rebounding however on the other end they are forcing more turnovers so far which is might not be sustainable I don’t

Really know if Beal and Allen necessarily are guys where it’s like yeah you’re going to force a lot of turnovers with them but it’s it’s there so far and their rebounding is even worse so they’re still losing the rebounding battle but they’re at least winning the turnover battle and an even

In a in a really big way but the other reason I would say it’s more normal is they have a 1137 seven defensive rating with that group on the court so instead of being the best defense in the NBA by a mile which is obviously not what this

Sun’s team is going to be that would be the 10th offense in the NBA and suddenly it clicks into place that is a lineup that shows the identity of this Sun’s team right great offense passable defense and that’s what that group has been now to shift over to the defensive

Unit as we wrap this segment up the common components of the defensive lineups that have worked best for the Suns might surprise you aogi probably not going to surprise you nurkic he’s not been an elite Defender but I think he would probably be a C+ B

Minus maybe even a b depending on how you feel and obviously he’s fluctuated night toight but above average I think and the Alternatives have been so bad the sun’s backup center situation has been so ugly that the onoff numbers are going to favor him the other part that might surprise

You though is Grayson Allen has been on a lot of in a lot of the sun’s best defensive units and I know he’s not a perfect solution at the point of attack as a Defender but he’s passable he executes he fights through screens and he does have fairly

Quick hands he’s big and strong enough against the majority of opponents that you’re going to see the Suns have to deal with you know I think somebody like Jamal Murray honestly will be a pretty fascinating test you know what does Grayson do if he getss more time against

Sheel just Alexander I’m not sure I’m not saying it’ll be great but for the best they can have I mean compare it to like Milwaukee right now right Milwaukee is having to make do with Malik Beasley as their point of attack Defender Damen Lillard the Suns

Have a better option there so I guess maybe not a huge surprise the last one is the most surprising though which is kab Bates di the best lineup defensively for the Suns that has played more than 50 possessions together has been Allen aside from the one I mentioned at the

Very beginning of Booker Gordon Allen Durant nerkach which again I told you I don’t fully buy the booker sorry Beal Allen Durant nurkic and kab Bates deop lineup has really locked it down on the defensive end now that’s the unit that played those middle stretch of games

When Beal came back the first time that was the Lakers game the Bulls game and the Thunder game okay and Bates deop shows up in a lot of the better defensive lineups that this team has put out there the problem is he just does not produce he does not force turnovers he

Doesn’t really rebound he doesn’t put up a lot of shots he’s not much of a playmaker so until that aggressiveness comes and his ability to impact games returns he’s not going to be in the rotation but the onoff numbers would show that good things have happened when

He’s been out there and I think that bodess well for Frank vogle continuing to give him a look maybe not anytime soon but I would bet you there will be a time before the trade deadline when we see Bates deot pop back up and on Wednesday night against the Clippers he

May have to play because Durant is out again that brings us to tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers we’ll get to everything that will matter in that game as the suns are tested in AIG way at home next first Today’s Show brought to you by FanDuel America’s

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To do is place it that’s 150 bucks in bonus bets win or lose let’s look at the latest around the NBA I’m looking at Tuesday night o Wednesday night odds sorry the Pacers and Bucks play for what feels like the 90th time this season I’m not sure how this continues to happen

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Of this Suns Clippers game available only on the audio fee on Wednesday so we’ll dive into this game again for all of you in even more depth but here’s the deal I talked about the last two weeks numbers on cleaning theeg glass.com the Clippers are 4-2 in that

Stretch and they’ve gotten unlucky the numbers say they should have won all of those games they should be si to0 in that stretch but even with that said they are eigh and offense their defense has fallen off a bit they had some injury or some sorry not injury luck

Three-point luck that was going their way uh for a while where teams were missing threes missing Corner threes against them and that has evened out but also Kawhi Leonard missed some of that time big picture I believe the Clippers are uh I can’t they’re they’re significantly in the positive with James

Harden they started three and seven they are 17 and five since then and both the Suns and the Clippers will be going into this game with even rest so the Clippers are not playing on Tuesday night all of that points to this being a very big game in

The west a very big Pro it opportunity for the Suns and while it does suck that there is no Kevin Durant in this game I still think the Suns have an opportunity to potentially win it and the reason that I say that is one they’ve been playing

Well but two they have personnel can match up with the Clippers even if that doesn’t sound correct um no Clippers injury report yet that’s weird doesn’t even have a slot for them on the official uh NBA page but think about it what are the Clippers do what’s their strength they have like-sized players

They try to slow the game down and isolate you and they switch on defense and they just try to play the game at their own pace and will you into matching them on their turn terms the Suns can kind of do that but I also think the Suns

Can maybe even avoid being pulled into that the Clippers do not force turnovers they do not rebound now that’s all relative they’re average at both of those things who does that sound like sounds like the Phoenix Suns the Suns have smaller players yeah right kawhai Paul George the Suns can’t

Match that with Duran out of the game but if you look at the starting lineup that the Clippers have been putting out there it’s a lot of guys that the Suns can match up with Harden man Powell Russ those are all outside of kawhai and Paul George that’s most of

The remainder of their rotation and zubot is obviously going to be matched up with use of nerkish most of the night another thing that I think evens this matchup out a little bit even without Durant is the pace so as I try to get these uh Pace numbers here

The okay the Clippers don’t run a ton all right they are a team where okay yes with Russ he can get out in transition he can do his thing but when you look at transition frequency the Clippers are ninth when you look at transition efficiency they’re a little worse than

That defensive transition they allow uh the top 10 amount to the opponent so I think that’s somewhere where the Suns without Durant who can clearly play with Pace 2 but I think if you’re going to probably what I think the Suns will do against this team is try to roll out

Lineups of all four of their best guards and and nurkic Booker Beal Gordon Allen nurkic that’s what I would do if kawwai or PG want to drive and draw contact and finish and get to the line enough times to beat you so be it but I’d rather roll

With that possibility than put udawat nabe or K Bates deop or nir little out there and risk those guys just sort of botching it you know those are not reliable players so that’s what I would anticipate I now have the pace numbers up for you guys offensive pace which is

How many seconds are being used per offensive possession the Clippers are 23rd the suns are 25th okay so that’s neck and neck but that’s something I think the Suns can lean on whereas we know the C flippers will not lean on it with Harden with kawhai those are guys

Who want to be methodical slow the game down and everything else I think that’s an advantage for the Suns tomorrow the last part of this is going to be three-point shooting all right the I mentioned the Clippers had some luck in terms of opponents missing a lot of

Threes against them that’s not ever likely to continue in any season the Clippers as an offense shoot the 13th fewest they’re basically middle of the pack in terms of how many threes they take they are fifth in terms of efficiency on those so they make them

When they take them right and you would expect that kawhai PG Powell those are all knockdown Shooters Harden is taking more of the uh spot ups that he did last year alongside embiid and defensive frequency for threes the Clippers allow their opponent to get some off right whereas the Suns have actually

Been a little better on that maybe that’s an advantage again if the Suns choose to go small choose to roll their four guards plus nkit out there that’s the pathway I think to the Suns winning this game but that said I know I brushed it off a little bit but we know Harden

George and kawhai driving to the basket that can work I’m not trying to say that it can but it at least requires the best players to get uncomfortable to play physical purposeful basketball and outscore you that way I think I like those chances the Suns have been playing well I went through the

Lineup stuff with you and they’re at home let’s see what happens should be an absolute blast of a game even with Durant out I would have loved to see how that all rolled out but look the reality is they get two more fun ones plus the Clippers in five days so let’s hope

Durant gets gets right the Suns will have a good opportunity against the Heat to test themselves the Grizzlies are no walkover anymore and then you have the Clippers again next Monday then the Lakers next Thursday this is a tough stretch so take the wins if you can get

Them who cares about testing yourself and signature wins and all that stuff let’s just see the W speaking of w speaking of testing yourself and opponents the next segment I’m going to walk through the West and answer a very simple question are the Suns better than this

Team we’ll get into it next first Today’s Show brought to you by the game time app the best place to buy a ticket game time game time is the fast and easiest way to buy tickets for all the sports music comedy and Theater events near you I love game time for multiple

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Conference down to the bottom of the conference and I’m going to answer that question well let’s start at the bottom right they’re better than the Spurs they’re better than the Blazers they’re better than the Grizzlies they’re better than the Jazz do we have any disagreements I don’t think

So and I mean better than in terms of like would they beat them right would they beat them in a playoff series do they have answers to all the questions that the opponent makes them answer do they have matchups for their best players do does that team have answers

For the sun’s best players so it’s not just like look at the record and answer the question that would be boring that would be dumb the Warriors to be honest I think this is easier than you might even think one because the Warriors have just been underwhelming this season but two

Because the only real fight that the Warriors have been able to put up in their three games against Phoenix this year has been from their bench in some strange second half runs that’s not enough to tell me that the team is better that just shows me the Suns got

Lazy the Warriors young guys fought hard that doesn’t mean they’re better so yes the suns are better than the Warriors the Lakers this is an interesting one because the Lakers offense is quite simply not good enough to keep up with Phoenix’s point blank period there’s really no argument there the Lakers have

A bad offense just straight up bad and they keep putting lineups out there that are even worse I don’t get it but we know that defensively the Lakers match up very very well against the Suns they match up defensively great against a lot of teams they are a turnover creating

Machine they force you into mistakes they dis they’re kind of deceptive with where their guys are because they’re always ready to prow the passing lanes and help and do everything else even if it looks like they’re kind of guarding straight up but I think now that Beal is

Back and Gordon and Allen are at the peak of their powers and the big three I told you the numbers at the beginning of the show 137 offensive rating with the new starting lineup even if the Lakers cut that a little bit because their defense is so good let’s say it’s a 125

Offensive rating a 120 offensive rating even with those three out there in a Lakers matchup I’d be hard pressed to imagine the Lakers getting to that number themselves so I’ll say the suns are better the Rockets not hard for me I respect the Rockets I think there’s some

Weird stuff that has nothing to do with the Suns about kind of skipping some steps with their rebuild here but their defense is legit their offense can get hot I just think the suns are better Fred Van vet as the number one score on a team that is trying to beat Durant

Booker and Beal that’s sometimes it’s that simple the Dallas Mavericks I’m very interested to see these teams match up again now that the suns are fully healthy and Dallas is getting Kyrie back they play in Dallas to kick off a very long uh seven game two week road trip for

Phoenix on January 24th on ESPN that should be a very very fun game but I will still say the suns are better because again I don’t trust Dallas’s defense now I’ve said before right as opposed to times in the past where switchable physical defensive teams is what worried me facing the Suns

Because of what they could do to Chris Paul what they could do to DeAndre Aton what they could do to guys like Mel Bridges and cam Johnson to run them off the line now the teams that scare me the most as opponents are the Mavs types of teams this version

Of the Mavs I know the past version of the Mavs kind of was the other switchable thing this is an offense first team but that is the type that actually is more worrisome because it’s the teams that can keep Pace with the Suns so I do

Think the suns are better than the Mavs but right now their records would indicate that they are close and until the Suns consistently prove it on the defensive end they’re kind of similar teams where it’s all offense very little defense I think the Suns have a better

Defensive upside but it’s kind of pro it for both teams right now so I think that one’s hard I will say the Suns the Pelicans that does not worry me I don’t think their offense can keep Pace I think they still need a top dog who is a

Consistent number one until they have that at the highest levels they will not scare me Sacramento Kings are exactly the type of t team that I’m talking about they can keep Pace with the Suns offensively and that worries me I will give you one reason that I think that

The suns are better despite Sacramento beating the crap out of the Suns not too long ago and that reason is Kevin Durant this is one of those teams where you just look at it and it’s been like this for Katie’s whole career there are just

Some teams who do not have an answer for him I wrote a whole article early on in me covering the NBA about the Kevin generation and not guys that try to play like him guys that exist in the league partially as a result of his dominance

In order to try to stop him and you could put Mel Bridges on that list you could put guys like ogan anobi or Jaden McDaniels on that list the Kings don’t have one of them even though Keegan Murray might eventually be he’s too young too mistake

Prone not strong enough yet so I think the suns are better than the Kings the Clippers I mean Wednesday might tell us even though Durant won’t play a little bit of what that matchup could look like they kind of have the best of both worlds because their offense is capable of

Matching the Suns but they also have some of those switchable swarming defensive capabilities that I told you used to scare me right that’s why the Clippers took the Suns to six games in 20121 without Kawai and why last year it felt like we might be headed toward another difficult series until I went

Down I will say right now the suns are better than the clippers but that is only because I still have Harden and Russ and Westbrook doubt everything else would tell you the Clippers are better they have actually comparable star power they have better depth they statistically and personnel-wise have more more defensive

Upside because their two best players are great Defenders when they’re locked in zubot is a better Defender than nkit to me and they have some guys like man and um even Russ at times who can lock in at the point of attack but I will say the

Suns because I just can’t trust the Clippers the nuggets are better than the Suns I’m sorry until further notice you have to defer to that we haven’t seen it healthy this year but they beat him in the playoffs you’re not going to hear me try to contort into a crazy answer you just

Got to give it up to the better team until otherwise indicated I think the suns are better than the Wolves Minnesota quietly has crept downward to 18th in offense in the league I don’t think that they are a lock to beat anybody in the NBA playoffs in 2024 with that level of offense

Unless they got maybe the Pelicans or the rockets in the first round even then it would be a slog you know so that’s really it we also saw the Suns one of their best wins of the year was beating Minnesota and it was exactly what we’re

Talking about the Suns scored a bunch of points Minnesota’s defense wasn’t quite as locked down as normal and they didn’t have the offensive capability to keep up I think that’s how you’re going to see Minnesota fa against a lot of teams and less cat can play out of his mind and

We’ve said that before the Oklahoma City Thunder it’s a big question mark for everybody I think in every fan base in the NBA including Oklahoma City’s fan base although of course they’re going to be optimistic about everything the Thunder handed it to the Suns in that game and that they played

When Beal was healthy Booker was not so that obviously is a huge caveat but they didn’t just hand it to the Suns by beating them by a lot they they played their game in footprint Center and physically kind of overwhelm the Suns I think you saw Shay and jdub get whatever

They wanted and the Thunder despite not having a a four who’s Big they’re a big team they don’t really play anybody shorter than 6’4 Isaiah Joe and cassan Wallace are their only thin guys everybody’s physical everybody fights their defense is really good really connected and they have offense that can turn something in

At turn nothing into something at any moment unless their three-point shooting takes a dip cuz I still don’t really trust lud Dort to be a 40% guy I don’t don’t fully trust you know rookie cassan Wallace to be knocking a bunch of shots down Josh giddy can be hot and cold the

Shay always take them when he should you know if he’s playing off ball if he’s has an open pull-up three he’d rather take the pull-up two you know so maybe their threes fluctuate and that’s a way in to beating them but considering they already beat the Suns once everything

About their resume statistically and every and otherwise would tell you they’re Elite I have to put the Thunder ahead of the Sun so for those keeping track at home I have only the Thunder and the Nuggets definitively better I went back and forth on the Clippers and the Kings and the

Mavs and I have the Suns better than Minnesota New Orleans Houston the Lakers Golden State Utah Memphis Portland and San Antonio that’ll wrap us up for the day hope you enjoyed that fun little thought experiment to close out the show we’ll see what happens in Suns Clippers

I’ll be back here during the day on Wednesday with a game preview on the audio feed only so go subscribe there if you’re normally on YouTube and then on YouTube and the audio feed post game a normal recap show so enjoy all of that as it comes enjoy your Wednesday and I

Will talk to you then

The Phoenix Suns host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in a prove-it opportunity even without Kevin Durant.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down the matchup and why the Suns could steal a win. But first, a look at which Suns lineups are working so far on both ends and why. To close, a game of “Are the Suns Better Than This Team?”

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