Clippers Overcome Sloppy Start To Beat Suns 115-99

By Connor Aylward
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: November 28, 2018

After a narrow win against the Western Conference contending Portland Trailblazers on Sunday the Los Angeles Clippers traveled back home to take on the struggling Phoenix Suns Wednesday evening.

This one got off to a sloppy start as the Clippers looked to be playing down to the level of their 4-win competition. Turnovers were aplenty early with Los Angeles notching 12 in just the first half. Turnovers combined with poor shooting made for an ugly half of basketball but some good did come out of it for the home squad.

With Marcin Gortat out with an injury the Clippers started towering Center Boban Marjanovic against the Suns rookie sensation DeAndre Ayton. The decision paid off as Ayton and the Suns were unable to stop Marjonovic and other Clippers bigs from grabbing boards from all of those misses. Los Angeles led the category by 12 at the end of the first quarter and would up with a +22 advantage on the glass by the end of the night. Marjanovic had a game high 12.

It took the halftime break for Doc Rivers’ club to finally find their groove, scoring a season high 40 points in the third quarter and growing their lead to 15. Much of that production offensively came from Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari, whom had 12 points in the third quarter alone. Gallinari closed out his night with an impressive game high 28 points and 10 rebounds, going 4-4 from beyond the arc and 7-10 from the field. This was Gallinari’s first double-double as a Clipper.

A walking bucket.@gallinari8888‘s got 27. pic.twitter.com/MtHmX7Nc3I

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 29, 2018

Los Angeles’ starters proved as the game went on that they were the better side but it took the bench some time to show their talents. Touted as the best bench in the league, this was the first game all season the Clippers bench finished the game with a net negative rating. Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell were able to make an impact in the fourth quarter, putting up 20 and 18 points respectively. However outside of those two, the next closest bench player had just 2 points.

Despite their early struggles the Clippers were able to use a huge third quarter to propel themselves to a 115-99 win over the youthful Phoenix squad.

An expected win for Los Angeles and one that proves they can get the job done when needed as they’ll be back on the court again tomorrow in a dreaded back to back matchup versus the overachieving Sacramento Kings.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Clippers and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time