The Phoenix Suns were so impressed with their first trip to the Los Angeles Clippers’ new $2 billion Intuit Dome that they will make a return visit Thursday evening to Inglewood, Calif., in just over a week.
The Suns and Clippers opened a new season and a new building, with Phoenix posting a 116-113 overtime win on October 23.
“Unbelievable,” Suns’ Kevin Durant said of the Clippers’ new arena. “I absolutely loved it.”
Durant scored 25 points in the season-opening win, while hitting the game-tying shot with 21.2 seconds left. Phoenix used an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to take the lead with 1 minute, 39 seconds left, then watched Los Angeles’ James Harden miss a free throw late in overtime that would have tied the game again.
Bradley Beal scored 24 points in this victory, while Devin Booker scored 15 points to lead coach Mike Budenholzer to win his first regular season game with the Suns.
Two days after the victory over the Clippers, the Suns lost 123-116 away to the Los Angeles Lakers. But they avenged that defeat by beating the visiting Lakers 109-105 on Monday and now go 3-1 on the season.
Booker scored a season-high 33 points in Game 2 against the Lakers, while Durant added 30 points and averaged 29.0 points in four games. Jusuf Nurkic scored just 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field in 15 minutes.
But Phoenix is thrilled with its defense after holding the Lakers to 14 points in the second quarter on Monday and 22 in the fourth to seal the win.
“We know what we are capable of on the offensive end,” said Booker, who turned 28 on Wednesday. “We know how we need to show that by getting stops (on defense) and getting out in transition.”
The Clippers now lead 0-2 in their new stadium after losing to the Portland Trail Blazers 106-105 on Wednesday. The Clippers continue to play without their star Kawhi Leonard, who will be absent indefinitely due to a chronic knee injury.
The Clippers also performed defensively under new assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy’s scheme. Los Angeles has allowed an average of 107.5 points through its first four games, fifth-best in the NBA.
Even in the Clippers’ loss on Wednesday, the Blazers shot just 44.6 percent from the floor.
“As far as defense, we knew there would be an adjustment,” Clippers forward Nicolas Batum said. “(Van Gundy) put together a new system for us, and we’ve been working on it every day, but I didn’t know we were going to be so effective with it so early. … Until Kawhi came back, we knew we needed that.” Be a good defensive team.”
Norman Powell scored 30 points, and James Harden added 19 points and 10 assists against the Blazers. The Clippers had opportunities late in the game, holding the Blazers without a basket during their last three possessions.
But Los Angeles failed to score on its final four possessions, including two missed free throws from Ivica Zubac, who was held to six points on 2-of-7 shooting after entering averaging 22.7 points per game.
– Media at the field level