Suns Strokes: Suns fight hard in home loss to Clippers

PHOENIX — Say this about the Phoenix Suns: They don’t quit.

Not with a short-handed roster.

Not with their best available player fouling out with nearly five minutes remaining in the game.

Still, the goal is to win, head coach Earl Watson said before the game.

But they didn’t.

The losing streak reached 10 after a 124-118 outcome to the L.A. Clippers in front of 16,736 at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Thursday.

It was the Suns (22-54) sixth straight home defeat, tying a season-high.

Devin Booker had a game-best 33 points on 13-of-22 shooting and nine assists, while Marquese Chriss had 20 and Tyler Ulis 16 to go along with 13 assists; the latter tying his career-high.

T.J. Warren also posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

All good, but not good enough to counter Blake Griffin (31 points) and Chris Paul (29 and 10 assists).

The Clippers, who had played the night before beating Washington in L.A., led by as many as 12 points, but didn’t pull away until late and not until Booker had fouled out.

The win completed the season series sweep, only the Clippers (46-31) second all-time against the Suns.

Overall, they’ve won 13 of 15 in the series.

THE GOOD

Presented a framed commemorative photo of his 70-point performance at Boston prior to the game, Booker went out and scored 11 first-quarter points on 5-of-8 shooting. He added five assists to account for 23 of the Suns’ 35 points, their highest scoring first quarter of the month and third-best effort overall this season. Four of Booker’s assists, by the way, setup Chriss, who finished with a game-best 12 points in the period.

With seven more points in the second quarter, Booker went into the locker room with 19, the most of any of the nine Suns players who saw game action. Those 19 points moved Booker past Dwight Howard (2,619) for the fifth-most career points by a player before turning 21 years old in NBA history. The rest of the top five reads like this: LeBron James (4,649), Kevin Durant (3,495), Carmelo Anthony (3,283) and Kobe Bryant (2,755).

By the end of the third quarter, all five Suns starters had scored in double figures, led by Booker’s 27 points. Both Booker and Ulis had eight points in the period. Booker’s last points, a 28-foot 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left, helped the Suns close on a 9-0 run. It all began with an Alan Williams hook shot and continued with a pair of Warren made field goals. The Suns trailed 93-92 entering the fourth and final quarter.

Eight points and two assists in the third quarter. Six points and four assists in the fourth quarter. Ulis nearly willed the Suns to victory with both his scoring and passing. He did record his fifth double-double of the season, all of which have come in the last nine games since he was inserted into the starting lineup.

THE BAD

Three straight missed shots plus a turnover and as a result, the Suns found themselves trailing for the first time in the game thanks to seven unanswered points by the Clippers. It was part of a much larger 10-2 run that put the visitors ahead, 18-15, at the 6:23 mark of the first quarter. Paul had five points and two assists, while Griffin and J.J. Redick each added a pair. Griffin finished with a team-best eight points in the period.

Twice Griffin hit 3s in the first half, and they both occurred during a 14-2 Clippers run that put the visitors ahead, 63-55, at the 1:41 mark of the second quarter. The eight-point advantage was their largest of the half. Griffin scored a game-best 12 points in the period, hitting 5-of-7 shot attempts. Both of his 3-pointers, by the way, were assisted by Paul, who had four in the quarter, three during that game-changing run.

For the second time in four games and fifth time this season, Booker fouled out. He earned the disqualification, picking up his sixth personal foul defending Redick. It came with 4:45 remaining in the game and the Suns trailing, 111-106. After Redick hit the two free throws, the Clippers went up seven. Booker, by the way, recorded his 11th 30-point game of the season, and he did so while playing 37 minutes on a bad right ankle.

Though they enjoyed their best shooting effort since March 2, the Suns, who made 53.3 percent of their field goal attempts, struggled from beyond the arc. They missed 16 of their 23 3-point shots. By comparison, the Clippers were 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) with nine of those makes coming in the first half, when they took the lead for good. Redick made the most 3s (three), while Griffin and Luke Mbah a Moute each had two.

STAT OF THE GAME

54.2: The Suns missed 11 of their 24 free throw attempts, including seven in the fourth quarter alone; and because of that they set a season-low from the foul line in terms of percentage, besting a 58.3 mark two days earlier in Atlanta

HE SAID IT

“That hurt us a lot,” Watson said, referring to their free-throw shooting. “Being down 10 attempts, that also hurt us and you know Devin Booker fouling out of the game was big. I thought he established position, went up and came straight back down. Kind of jumped into him, to me it’s a no call. But referees, sometimes they see something different. Coaches never see what they see.”

NOTED

The Suns’ record is now 2-2 when wearing their purple “Los Suns” uniforms.

Leandro Barbosa missed a third straight game with a right hamstring spasm.

Eric Bledsoe sat out his ninth straight game and 10th overall on the season.

Tyson Chandler and Brandon Knight did not play for the 19th straight game.

One-time Suns player and current CBS/TNT analyst Grant Hill sat courtside.

Kentucky’s John Calipari, who coached four current Suns, was at the game.

Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald was among those in attendance.

UP NEXT

It’s back on the road for the Suns. The good news: it’s their penultimate trip of the season.

The Suns travel to Portland to face Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and the Trail Blazers at Moda Center on Saturday, April 1. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

This is the fourth and final meeting with the Suns looking to split the season series.

The Suns’ lone victory occurred when Bledsoe hit a fade-away 3-pointer at the buzzer on Nov. 2. In that game, Warren led the team with 27 points.

Overall, the Suns have won 10 of the last 18 and 12 of the last 21 in the series.

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