LOS ANGELES – – — James Harden and the Clippers came out smoking hot early but fizzle out to lose their second game in two weeks to the Phoenix Suns 125-119 on Thursday night.
Harden finished the game with 25 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. This is Harden’s 78th triple double of his career.
It looked like the Clippers would run away with this game but the third quarter changed the tide. The Suns outplayed Los Angeles in the second half out scoring them 73-49.
“I mean, we just got to learn from it,” Coach Tyronn Lue said. “We got to continue to keep getting better. We got to close games better and just something to keep learning from. All five of our games have been close, come down to the wire. We’ve been fortunate to win two of them, but in any of those games, we could be 0-5. We could be 5-0.”
Suns guard Devin Booker was the star of the night with 40 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Kevin Durant added 18 points.
The Suns won the game without guard Bradley Beal suiting up.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac played much better in this game compared to the matchup with the Portland Trailblazers. He scored 22 points with 12 rebounds.
Guard Norman Powell continued his solid play by adding 23 points.
The Clippers did everything right in the first half but couldn’t duplicate their efforts in the second half. The Clips had an advantage or was nearly even with the Suns in every statistical category except at the 3-point line. The Suns made 18 three’s to the Clippers 12 which helped Phoenix.
“It’s definitely frustrating, but nothing we can do about it,” Harden said. “We got to find ways to get better.”
“Obviously you want to win games … but it is what it is. If we were winning games in this, then it’s a conversation, but we kind of brush it off, so we just got to make sure we stick with it and we will.”
The Clippers are now 0-3 at home and will look to try to pickup their first home win Saturday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
