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Hi folks, I hope everyone made it through the work-week in one piece and is enjoying their weekend. I’m going to keep this short and sweet today.
Truthfully, I just wanted to take a little bit of time to put pen-to-paper on how fun this postseason has been. Every time I feel like I have a series figured out, the opposition comes back with a counter to make the series interesting once again.
The Western Conference Finals is a great embodiment of this sentiment. Granted, the Suns could win Game 4 tonight and make this look foolish, but the buttons Ty Lue has pushed all playoffs genuinely has me believing that they’ll even the series up 2-2 tonight, and then all bets are off.
I thought after Game 1 that Phoenix was going to runaway with that series, and felt similarly after they stole a Game 2 that they really had no business winning. They won a game that they should’ve lost, and oftentimes in a short series that’s the difference between advancing and going home. The Clippers of 2020 would’ve folded and whimpered away, especially without Kawhi Leonard.
That’s not how it shook out, though, as Paul George continued what might be his finest postseason run to date, leading the Clippers to a decisive Game 3 victory. Now, I’m forced to look at this and think that the Clippers have outplayed Phoenix in 2 of the 3 games, and the last one with Chris Paul active was LA’s finest performance yet.
That seems counterintuitive, and this isn’t some sort of Ewing Theory shenanigans, but the style that Chris Paul plays can make things a little harder on Phoenix if he isn’t up-to-speed after his bout with COVID-19. The Suns will play at a snails pace with Paul, as all teams with Paul do. The Clippers are pretty much going to switch everything, making it immensely important for Paul to punish those mismatches. He wasn’t able to in Game 3, advantage Clippers.
The other problem that’s shown up is Patrick Beverly. He was too small to play against Luka Doncic, but he’s really bothering Devin Booker in this series. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Booker bounce back tonight, but Bev has been the most successful player this postseason in slowing down the budding superstar.
The plot in this series is just fun. It’s fascinating and there are new characters making a difference every night. That’s all we can ask for.
Give me the Clippers tonight, 105-101.