Westbrook’s 37-point effort is not enough as the Suns and their trio of All-Stars pull away in the fourth quarter for a 112-100 win. Game 5 is Tuesday in Phoenix.
LOS ANGELES — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue had hoped his team would play with the same passion they displayed in a losing effort in Game 3, when they overcame a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter before coming up short.But like the previous game, the Clippers couldn’t overcome the Phoenix Suns’ duo of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, who carried Phoenix to a 112-100 Game 4 victory on Saturday afternoon with a finishing kick from former Clipper Chris Paul.
And like the game two days ago, Clippers were without their two biggest stars – Kawhi Leonard and Paul George – both of whom sat on the bench with sprained right knees. Lue dismissed their absence playing any part in the Clippers trailing 2-1 coming into Saturday’s game. Eric Gordon disappeared after the first half, Norman Powell didn’t produce the same kind of 3-point fireworks he did in Game 3 and finished with just 14 points, and Terance Mann added 13.
Then the second quarter happened. Turnovers, something Lue had warned about, crept into their game. The Clippers turned the ball over eight times in the quarter and had 10 by halftime – nine of them on steals by the Suns. And it turned out, they couldn’t hold onto the lead any better than they could hang onto the ball. They trailed 48-47 at halftime.
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