<div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"><font color="Red">Los Angeles Clippers </font> (26-40) @ <font color="Orange">Phoenix Suns </font> (21-45) </div> <div align="center">Time: 6:00 p.m. PT Location: America West Arena TV: FSN2, NBALP</div> Season Series: Clippers 1, Suns 1 12/13/03 Clippers 106 Suns 91 12/29/03 Suns 113 Clippers 105 Previous Games: Mavericks @ Clippers 101-88 L Mavericks @ Suns 113-90 L Last 10 Games: Clippers 2-8 (Lost 4) Suns 3-7 (Lost 4) Head Coaches: Mike Dunleavy Sr./Mike D'Antoni Probable Starters: Quentin Richardson/Joe Johnson Keyon Dooling/Leandro Barbosa Corey Maggette/Shawn Marion Bobby Simmons/Zarko Cabarkapa Elton Brand/Amare Stoudemire Sixth Men Chris WIlcox/Casey Jacobsen Injury Report Clippers Marko Jaric Josh Moore Suns Keon Clark <div align="center">Players To Watch </div> <div align="center">Corey Maggette & Shawn Marion</div> <div align="center">Maggette: 20.2 pts, 5.70 rebs, 3.2 assists, .87 steals Marion: 18.8 pts, 9.40 rebs, 2.5 assists, 2.17 steals </div> Keys To The Game <u>Clippers</u> First things first, Elton Brand must have a better shooting night than 2/11 from the field with only five points. Also he'll need to use his size as an advantage over Phoenix's strong frountcourt of Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire, and Jahidi White. Quentin Richardson would have to come close to equaling his brilliant performance against the Mavericks two nights ago, and with Leandro Barbosa guarding him, there's no reason for him to acheive that goal. Also, it'll be important for him to not only score to keep his team in the game, but to penetrate to the basket and create better shot selections. Corey Maggette, very much like Quentin, had a great game against Dallas, but shot selections and wise decisions with the basketball is key. If he can get into a consistent rhythm and not rush any offensive possessions, they should be in this ballgame. <u>Suns</u> Get the ball to Amare Stoudemire. Stoudemire has led the Suns in scoring in 13 of the last 14 ballgames, and when he drives to the basket on anybody one on one, he's one of the most dominant power forwards in the league. It's important for Shawn Marion to receive as many touches as possible. He too like Amare, has an excellent inside game, and can be a force in the rebound categories. The main concern for Shawn is he's gonna have to do a better job on the offensive rebounds category and second chance opportunities for his team. Because in his last game, he had zero on the offensive side. Defense is key. With the record Phoenix has, it's clear that defense is one of the things this team really lacks. Laker Fever's Prediction I think the duo of Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire could be the difference maker in this ballgame. If these two get going and shoot the ball extremely well from the field, and clamp down on defense, they could be in great shape to win this ballgame. Hopefully a win means more to them than their position in the draft lottery. Suns by 8.
Nice preview Laker_Fever_834. I like the Clippers in this game, they have been playing well against some of the better teams in the league, and just need to learn how to close out games. It appears the Clippers are actually trying to salvage their season by trying to win and building momemtum for next year. Q-Rich was on fire the last game, going for 32, and I expect him to stay hot and be the third weapon behind Brand and C-Maggs. These teams match up well with the athleticism and speed, but despite losing 4 in a row, the Clippers are playing decent basketball late in the season. Should be a close game, but I predict the Clippers stealing a rare road victory in this game by a 3 point margin.
Good job, I say the Suns take this by 5, Marion has been hitting his shots lately, and Amare is always a beast (even though he shot horrible last game). Brand needs to watch out because Amare is one quick player, and maybe today we should go with Brand and C and Wilcox at PF to matchup against Amare. The Clippers are on the road, and I don't know about that, Brand can't have a bad game again b/c we need him to produce and get to the line for wins. Maggettee needs to go at Marion, and Dolling must watch for Barbosa b/c he is quick and can shoot the rock. I like the Quentin and Johnson matchup.
Marion has been hitting great shots and the Suns have momentum right now after winning against the Houston Rockets last night in Overtime.If they play good defense and plays with effort, they will have a big chance of winning.Players like Joe Johnson and Marion can both hit clucth shots.Even if Amare doesn't shot well, he can affect the game alot by rebounding and blocking shots. The Game started already.White already has 3 fouls in the 1st quarter.
Though I hardly ever like to predict that the Clippers will lose to a team with a worse record than them, I think that'll happen tonight. The Clips aren't playing their best ball lately, and the Suns have been. Amare has been on a tear of late and I love watching this guy. I'll take the Suns by 6 on this one.
Ofcourse my prediction is way off again, if I predict us to win we lose if I predict to lose we win... I guess I should start predicting against us every game from now on??
I admit I was in doubt of the Clippers ability to win on the road, but they proved me wrong. Quentin, Maggette and Brand all played well and propeled the Clips to the victory. Q-Rich had 32 points (12-22), 12 rebounds, and was 3-7 from long range. He also only committed 1 turnover and got 2 steals. Maggette had 23 points (8-14), 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Both matchups I felt would be good were nice, Maggette vs Marion and Q-Rich vs Johnson. Joe Johnson scored 18 points (8-16), and had 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Marion scord 19 points (8-15), and had 9 rebounds and 3 assists. This was a very exciting fast paced game and everyone expected to deliver did just so. Brand had 27 points on 8-16 shooting, and also had 7 rebounds, 3 assits and 2 blocks. He went to the line 14 times making 11 and did just what he had to do for the CLips to get the W. Amare was a beast again and soon will be averaging 20 ppg if he keeps this up. He had 28 points (10-21), 9 rebounds and 3 assists, and pulled his scoring average to 19.7 ppg. The Suns shot 47% to the Clipper 45.1%, but were outrebounded 49-43. The Clippers had 21 assists to the Suns 11, and went to the line 11 more times (38-27) and made 11 more free throws (30-19). The Clippers also shot 40% from 3 land, and committed 14 turnovers to the Suns 12. Marcej Lampe got in the game for the Suns and scored 8 points (4-5), and pulled down 3 rebounds.
J-White did have a pretty good block on Maggette. Regardless that they called a foul on him. And Marion had a pretty big blooper. I've never seen someone lose the ball when they cock back for a tomahawk.
