Chris Paul surpassed 11,000 assists: he is the third to achieve it
An inspired Devin Booker gave the Suns 35 points
Facing one of the most powerful rivals in the West such as the Los Angeles Clippers, The Phoenix Suns gave themselves a placid victory this Sunday (95-112) in a game in which Chris Paul became the third player in NBA history to exceed 11,000 assists.
With their 11 assists tonight (plus 7 points and 8 rebounds)the veteran point guard joined a very select group in which only two other basketball masters appear: John Stockton (15,086) and Jason Kidd (12,091).
Also, Paul is the only player in NBA history to exceed 20,000 points. and 11,000 assists.
On this night for the memory of Paul Devin Booker also shone, excellent from start to finish and who led the Suns with 35 points (13-of-21 shooting, 5-of-9 on 3-pointers) one rebound and 4 assists.
On the sidelines of Booker’s recital, Phoenix stood out for their collective effort with 11 of their 12 rotation players contributing points tonight.
In a Clippers with little offensive fluidity, Marcus Morris was the top scorer with 22 points and 5 rebounds.
John Wall had 17 points, Paul George added 16 points and 7 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard -still with restricted minutes in his return after his very serious injury- got 11 points and 6 rebounds.
Domain from the first minute
The master and lord of the start of the match was Devin Booker.
Slippery and very fine in the shot, the escort dazzled with 14 points only in that initial quarter to brilliantly lead the Suns who totally dominated those first twelve minutes (18-33).
There wasn’t much news from the Clippers in that first quarter except for a couple of sparks from John Wall, in his first home game with the Angels, and a triple over the buzzer and from almost the midfield by Nico Batum.
As in Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Leonard started from the bench and in his first action in attack in the second quarter he achieved a two plus one.
But neither was the Clippers star able to alter the tight control of the Suns.
With a very balanced attack (9 of the 10 players who entered the field in the second quarter managed to score), Phoenix kept playing at will with some Clippers that crashed from the triple in the first half (1 of 12) and that also lost the battle for the rebound (19 against 30).
With those Angeleno numbers, it wasn’t surprising that They will go to the locker room 20 points down (41-61).
Tyronn Lue faced the resumption with what aims to be his gala quintet this year (Wall, Leonard, George, Morris and Zubac).
The Clippers cut to -10 with a notable improvement in his defense and a very inspired George from the outside.
But it seemed that the Suns didn’t suffer too much eitherto maintain his advantage thanks to a Booker who took responsibility when he burned the ball (72-86 at the end of the third quarter).
The Angelenos’ latest comeback attempt came at the hands of an active Marcus Morris, but the Clippers never got below 10 points and the Suns took the victory with a seamless performance.