After dropping the first game of the series to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Phoenix Suns were able to bounce back with a 123-109 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday night. The series is now tied at 1-1, and will shift to L.A. for Games 3 and 4.
Devin Booker went off in Game 2, and his production was a huge part of the reason the Suns were able to knot the series up. In 45 minutes of action, Booker scored 38 points, including 25 in the second half, and he also added nine assists. It was an impressive performance that showcased just how dangerous he is on the offensive end.
Booker didn't do it alone, though. Kevin Durant had 25 points, six rebounds and five assists in 44 minutes. The two played off of each other very well, especially down the stretch, and they looked like everything Phoenix's front office could have hoped for when they traded for Durant earlier this year. When those guys are both out there knocking down their shots, Phoenix can be very tough to topple.
Kawhi Leonard (31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Russell Westbrook (28 points, five rebounds and five assists) both had good games for the Clippers, but they didn't get too much help, and their production alone wasn't enough to power L.A. to a second straight win. Moving forward, the Clippers are going to have to get some more production from the rest of the roster, especially with Paul George sidelined for the entirety of the series.
Both teams will now regroup, make some adjustments and get prepared for Game 3, which is set for Thursday night. Before moving ahead to that game though, here's a look at three key takeaways from Phoenix's big Game 2 win.
1. Book it
Superstar players are expected to elevate their game in the postseason, and that's exactly what Devin Booker did on Tuesday night. Booker had 13 points at halftime and the scored was tied. Then, he came out in the third quarter like a guy who wasn't going to let his squad slip into a 0-2 hole against a talented team like the Clippers. Booker connected on seven of his eight shot attempts in that third quarter and scored 18 points. He also dished out four assists.
Following Booker's lead, the Suns were able to seize control of the contest in that third quarter and they never relinquished it. Booker added seven more points and two more assists in the final frame to close out the win for Phoenix. He's on a team with two other first ballot Hall-of-Famers in Durant and Chris Paul, playing against two future Hall-of-Famers in Leonard and Westbrook, and he was the best player on the floor in Game 2.
2. All about adjustments
If you were listening to the game broadcast on TNT, you probably noticed Stan Van Gundy lamenting the fact that the Clippers continued to play drop coverage against pick-and-roll action despite the fact that they were getting picked apart, especially when Ivica Zubac was playing center. By the end of the game, Van Gundy sounded like a broken record, but he was absolutely right. Time and again, the Suns exploited L.A's drop coverage to generate wide open opportunities, and the Clippers seemed content to allow it to happen.
On the other side, the Suns made an adjustment and decided to apply more pressure to Leonard in the second half of the contest after he controlled the offense in the first half for the Clippers. As a result, the Clippers struggled to generate good offense consistently down the stretch.
Playoff series are often won off of adjustments, and in this game, the Suns were able to adapt on the fly, while the Clippers were a bit slow to react. Moving forward, the Clippers might want to experiment with other coverage options, like blitzing or trapping the ball-handler in the pick-and-roll, playing smaller or going into a zone more. After the game, Clippers coach Ty Lue said that he plans to mix up coverages in the next game, so it will be interesting to see what they decide to do.
3. Concerns about Phoenix's depth
Of the 129 points the Suns posted on Tuesday night, the starters accounted for a whopping 110 of them. That's the most Phoenix's first five has scored in a playoff game since the 2006 Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
That's an impressive stat, and a testament to how productive the Suns' starting unit was in Game 2. Led by Booker, all five starters scored at least 14 points, and all shot above 50 percent from the field. Again, impressive. But this is kind of a glass half full/glass half empty scenario, because the starters carrying so much of the load also means that the bench didn't do much.
After scoring 10 total bench points in Game 1, only two players scored off of Phoenix's bench -- Josh Okogie and Bismack Biyombo combined for 13 points. This speaks to one of the larger concerns surrounding the Suns. The have arguably the league's best starting five, but their depth is questionable. I wrote about this directly after the Durant trade was made, and it hasn't changed. The Suns were able to overcome their lack of bench production in this one, but that might not always be the case.