The NBA’s Western Conference showdown between the Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers begins without two of the league’s biggest stars. Sunkeeper Chris Paul, who continues to remain in the league’s health and safety protocols, was banned from Game 1 (3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC) and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard did not travel to Phoenix with the team as he continues Star is struggling with a sprained right knee. What does Terance Mann, who just won 39 points in the Clippers closeout win over Utah Jazz, have for an encore when he stands in for Leonard? Can Paul George continue to lead LA after earning his nickname “Playoff P” in the West Semifinals? And will Devin Booker deliver after a week off like in the series wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets? Our experts are breakdown of the Each team’s path to the series and the keys that might decide who will reach the NBA Finals.MORE: Full NBA Playoff Schedule, Results and NewsWESTERN CONFERENCE FINALSHow the Suns Got Here: The Road to their First Western Conference Final since 2010 might seem easy, but for the Suns it was harder than it seemed. The Lakers stood out as pretty much the creepiest No. 7 seed in the first round, a gruesome reward for Phoenix’s best regular season result in more than a decade. Drawing the straw on LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the defending champions seemed like a potential recipe for an early, frustrating exit and unfortunate ending that prevented a proper assessment of the Suns’ actual performance on this series, and as Paul’s shoulder was ailing , it seemed like the basketball gods had a problem with the point god. But Paul’s shoulder improved while that of the Lakers deteriorated as Davis struggled with a groin problem. Phoenix flipped the series, won Game 4 en route to the series, set the table for a loss in the crucial Game 5, and finally Booker’s growing up as a true superstar arrival moment when he dropped 47 in a series completing Game 6. With the Nuggets and League MVP Nikola Jokic next was Paul’s physical improvement. All he did was split Denver into one of the most ruthlessly efficient performances of all time. The 36-year-old averaged 25.5 points on 62% shooting (58% of 3), never missed a free throw and had an assist-turnover ratio of 41-5 for the series. The Suns were dominant, winning the first three games with an average of 18.6 points. Jokic was thrown in Game 4, but it was already too late to avoid the sweep. Now the Suns and Paul are back in the realm of uncertainty: Paul remains in the league’s health and safety protocols. He’ll be back for the series at some point, but it’s a question of when and where the situation is. The Phoenix teenagers have been formidable so far, but they must grow up along with Booker more than ever while they wait for Paul’s return .– Royce Young How the Clippers Came Here: Before a postseason, the Clippers were able to make the deal that broke under full weight of playoff pressure in the bubble together to blow a 3-1 lead to the nuggets. This year the Clippers turned the tables. They are now the ones to make a storied comeback, breaking half a century of heartbreak, playoff breakdowns and cursed seasons as the Clippers won Game 6 at the Staples Center on Friday as they reached their very first Western Conference final. And the Clippers are here in the Searing Phoenix for Game 1 because they just refuse to wither no matter how hot things get. The Clippers are the first team in NBA history to beat a 2-0 deficit in multiple series in the same postseason. They crushed their first two home games in the first round against Dallas and finished 30:11 in the first quarter of the game 3 in Dallas before somehow charging back and winning four of the remaining five games to win the series in seven. The Clippers then lost the first two games in the second round in Utah before winning four in a row. Even more impressive was the fact that they won the last two games against Utah without Leonard, who is indefinitely out with a sprained right knee. Unlike the last postseason, the Clippers under coach Tyronn Lue have made all the right adjustments. Perhaps when they were a few bad games away from 3-0 in Dallas, Lue quickly deployed Nicolas Batum for Ivica Zubac to switch to a smaller and more changeable defensive line-up against Mavericks star Luka Doncic. The move turned the series around, forcing former Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle to try to counter with the underutilized Boban Marjanovic. And against Utah, Lu’s small line-up worked wonders again and this time neutralized the three-time defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert. Without Leonard, the 6-foot-5-Terance man started and scored 39 points in Game 6, sparking the biggest comeback of the second half in a crucial game in the series – and wiping out a 25-point deficit early in the third game. “It’s a whole new 2021 season,” said Reggie Jackson, who worked as a clutch artist for the Clippers. “And that’s all we have in mind, figuring out how to be the best team we can this year … and then try to be the last one that’s left.” Luckily we gave ourselves a chance and we’re going to play against a great team in Phoenix. But for us we don’t want the journey to end here. “- Ohm YoungmisukSeries key: How big can Ayton be and the Clippers ‘banking question? The Clippers’ small ball lineups present the Suns with a different challenge than they have set themselves in wins against the Lakers and Nuggets, who played conventionally with centers on the court in the first two rounds, opened up opportunities for Booker and Paul in pick and roll, especially against Denver’s Drop Coverages, with Paul averaging 1.15 points per direct ball screen vs. the Nuggets, according to Second Spectrum Tracking, a rate that would have reached second place among regular players during the regular season, provided they stick with the lineups that ended their streak against the Mavericks and Jazz without it a player taller than the 6-foot-8 duo of Batum and Marcus Morris Sr., the Clippers will attempt to slow Phoenix’s pick-and-roll attack with frequent changes Amen. They switched more picks than any other team in the playoffs per Second Spectrum and made it o 43% of the time with Zubac on the bench. Meanwhile, opponents have switched to the Suns only 11% of the time. Certainly Booker and Paul have the option of playing one-on-one against Switches as Donovan Mitchell did for Utah. For the math to work out in Phoenix’s favor, however, Ayton has to make the Clippers pay for their lack of size in color. He’s a more adept big man than the Clippers in the first two rounds, having beaten the Lakers for 21.7 PPG at 82% shooting in the first three games of this series. Ayton’s offensive rebounding will be especially important. He missed nearly 1 in 10 suns in the playoffs and may need to improve that against the Clippers. In another way, the conference final is a similar match for Phoenix to his second round win over Denver: a shorthanded team trying to keep up with the onslaught of the suns. That proved impossible for the Nuggets, who played the entire series without injured guard Jamal Murray, starting without starting wing Will Barton and leaving Michael Porter Jr. to play through a back injury that restricted him. Much like Denver in the first round against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Clippers were able to cope with Leonard’s failure for the last two games of the series with a knee injury thanks to unexpected contributions from role-players. Jackson, who is currently working on a playoff 50-40-90 campaign, was stellar in the postseason, and Mann gave the Clippers an incredible rise as Leonard’s replacement in the top five. If not for Mann’s 39-point Game 6, the Clippers are likely preparing for a playoff game in Salt Lake City. As with the nuggets, sustainability is the question for the clippers. Austin Rivers, who made 48% of his 3s in the first round, saw that drop to 27% against Phoenix. Backup Guard Monte Morris went from .560 True Shooting to .482. If Kawhi can’t go back on this series, the Clippers likely can’t afford a similar Jackson and Mann regression. Assuming Paul can play, the Suns are less promising points of attack than the jazz grid. which was built around Gobert to clean up clutter in paint – something he found more difficult against the Clippers’ five-out attack. Phoenix doesn’t rely as much on Ayton for rim protection and will rely more on Paul and Mikal Bridges keeping their opponents at bay in hopes of keeping the clippers off the paintwork .– Kevin Pelton Copyright © 2021 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.
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