AtoZ Picks: Back the team with their star returning in Phoenix Suns-Los Angeles Clippers Game 3 The

The series between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers shifts back to LA for game 3 on Thursday night. The Phoenix Suns hold a 2-0 series lead after winning game two in dramatic fashion. Kawhi Leonard will remain out for the Los Angeles Clippers and Chris Paul is expected to be back for the Suns. Devin Booker and the Suns had an off night shooting the ball in game two, but with Paul being back that shouldn’t continue.

The Why: Chris Paul is back
This comes down to what is valued more. Do you value the Clippers winning another game three at home, do you value the Suns having their leader back? For me, I value the Suns getting Chris Paul back. The Clippers have been down 0-2 in both series this playoff and have ended up winning game three. However, that was with Kawhi Leonard. We all know the Clippers are a totally different team with Leonard in. Now they are relying too much on Paul George, who has looked very fatigued late down the stretch in the two games this series.

I think game two was the best chance to make this game a series. The Suns shot 23% from three, got 29 points from Cameron Payne and Devin Booker shooting 5-16 and still won the game. If the Clippers can’t beat the Suns under those circumstances, then I don’t know how they beat them with Paul coming back. The Suns have shot the ball at a 37% clip in the postseason, so we should see a better shooting performance in game three. Also, Devin Booker will score more than 20 points with Paul back to run with him.

All in all, we’re going to take the Suns to take a 3-0 series lead. That game two loss was a gut punch to the Clippers so I question how they’re going to come out still being without their best player. Chris Paul being back for the Suns is huge as he will take the some load off of Devin Booker. The Suns will also shoot the ball much better from three. Take the Suns and take the points out of it.

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Devin Booker refuses to blame scoring woes on broken nose, mask as Phoenix Suns lose Game 3 to LA Clippers
LOS ANGELES -- Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker said he received eight shots of a numbing agent when his broken nose was put back in place between Games 2 and 3 of the Western Conference finals. Then, wearing a clear mask to protect his face, Booker went out and missed twice that many shots in Thursday's 106-92 loss to the LA Clippers in Game 3.

Booker, who came into the night averaging 28.3 points in the playoffs, went just 5-for-21 from the field (1-for-7 from 3) and finished with 15 points as the Clippers snapped the Suns' nine-game postseason winning streak to draw within 2-1 in the series.

Despite his struggles, the All-Star guard wouldn't blame his scoring woes on his nose, which he broke in three places during a head-on collision with Clippers guard Patrick Beverley in Game 2 on Tuesday.

"The nose feels fine," Booker said. "We just lost the game."

The nose didn't feel so fine just a day ago when, prior to the Suns' team flight from Phoenix to L.A., Booker underwent a fast-tracked tune-up.

"That was probably the worst part," he said, with some bruising under his eyes showing above his swollen cheeks. "It's a procedure that they usually say they put you under [anesthesia] for, but we had a flight out a couple hours later, so they just numbed it up -- all over the place, it felt like.

"Like eight shots to numb it up and then they go in there and put it back -- they break it again. They break it back in place."

Booker vowed the Suns' confidence was not broken, even though just about everything that could have gone wrong for Phoenix did -- from Booker's shooting to Chris Paul going an equally inept 5-for-19 in his return from an eight-day absence because of the league's health and safety protocols, to Jae Crowder fouling out, to Cameron Payne playing just four minutes before spraining his left ankle.

"The spirit is high," Booker said. "We move on to the next one. That's what type of team we are. We've been like that the whole season, so we'll stick with that. We'll come in tomorrow, go over film, regroup and get ready for Game 4."

Coming into Game 3, Booker said he sought the advice of a former masked shooting guard with a killer midrange game, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, who famously wore a protective faceguard for most of his career.

"He's my favorite player of all time," Booker said. "I've had short conversations with him in the past, and I thought this was the perfect time to talk to him some more and get some advice."

Booker said Hamilton told him he wore the mask long after the broken nose he suffered during the 2003-04 season healed because it put him in character.

"He felt comfortable getting in the paint. He felt like he had extra protection, he had an extra layer," Booker relayed. "He said, 'Just don't worry about it. Don't take it off when you shoot free throws, and just don't let it be a distraction to you.'"

Booker said that the mask "doesn't affect" him, but Beverley's defense might have. Over the past two games of the series, Booker shot just 3-for-15 with the Clippers' guard defending him, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

"He's ultra aggressive," Booker said of Beverley. "He's denying, limiting touches. He has one objective out there, and we understand that. So I feel like other things should open up, and we have to look at the film and see what's open and see what we can get."

Suns coach Monty Williams said he knows Booker will "make no excuses" for his performance -- whether he's able to smell the popcorn in the stands or not -- but he will get in his ear prior to Game 4.

"Go out there and hoop," Williams said, when asked to share the message he'll impart. "Don't forget who you are."

As off as Booker and Paul were -- their 10-for-40 (25%) combined output was the worst field goal percentage by All-Star teammates in a playoff game since 1957, according to the Elias Sports Bureau -- they were on the same page when it came to processing the loss.

"He got the mask. He's fine," Paul said. "We're not one of those teams looking for excuses and all that stuff. Give [the Clippers] their credit -- they played really well tonight. We'll get ready for Game 4."

Paul George 'moves on' from Game 2 heartbreak, leads LA Clippers to big win
LOS ANGELES -- Not long after the LA Clippers touched down from Phoenix at Los Angeles International Airport at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, head coach Ty Lue got in his car and immediately called Paul George.

Lue wanted to touch base with his players, starting with George, his All-Star guard who missed two costly free throws late in the Clippers' heartbreaking loss in Game 2 in Phoenix. Lue let George know the crushing defeat was behind them and that the Clippers would not be where they are without him.

On Thursday, George bounced back by delivering a near triple-double with 27 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in 43 minutes to lift the Clippers to a season-saving 106-92 win over the Phoenix Suns.

The victory was not only the Clippers' first ever in the Western Conference finals but their third straight Game 3 win this postseason after falling behind 2-0. The Clippers will attempt to do what they did in the previous two rounds by evening this best-of-seven series in Game 4 on Saturday.

"I just told him, 'We wouldn't be in this position without you. That game's over,'" Lue said of his conversation with George. "It happens. Doesn't mean anything."

Lue then called Patrick Beverley and a few other players to relay the message that the Clippers have moved on. That set the tone for Game 3. With an injured Kawhi Leonard watching from a suite in Staples Center with his family, the Clippers defended, scrapped and fought like their season was at stake.

"We were on the plane, we talked about it," George said of the Clippers players all putting Game 2 behind them. "We hashed it out. And immediately we got ready for Game 3. Simple as that. We had to move on. I thought we did a great job of moving on.

"I moved on," he said of his missed free throws with 8.2 seconds left with the Clippers up one before the Suns escaped with a 104-103 Game 2 win. "I know I have to be better. So everything was just put in going into Game 3. All my energy was directed towards a better game in Game 3."

While George led the way once again with Leonard out for the fifth straight game, the Clippers received a total team effort on Thursday night. Reggie Jackson hit momentum-seizing shots, scoring 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter when the Clippers absolutely needed a bucket.

Center Ivica Zubac, who was a nonfactor for much of the first two rounds due to matchups, had his biggest playoff game with 15 points and 16 rebounds. He had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the first half alone.

Beverley had only eight points and six rebounds, but his defense on Devin Booker (15 points, 5-for-21 shooting) and his energy and hustle were vital.

The Clippers blew an eight-point lead before going into the half down 48-46. Veterans, in particular Beverley, implored the Clippers to fight in the second half.

"Pat Bev was energized," Jackson said. "Fired up about us not letting go, not letting our foot off the gas and figuring out how to be better."

Terance Mann, the Clippers' unsung hero from the Utah series, started for a hobbled Marcus Morris Sr. and once again had an impactful third quarter like he did in that series-clinching Game 6 against the Utah Jazz. Mann scored 10 of his 12 points in the quarter to help the Clippers open a 15-point lead.

When the Suns cut it to seven, George found Luke Kennard for a 3 before he banked in a buzzer-beating heave from just past half court to send the Clippers into the fourth up 80-69.

Phoenix cut the lead to six in the fourth, but Beverley blocked Booker, and Jackson scored on a driving layup before burying a 3 to push it back to 11. The Clippers' defensive effort was one of their best of the postseason as they smothered Booker and Chris Paul, who returned from health and safety protocols, into a combined 3-for-12 shooting in the fourth quarter.

"We have to match their physicality -- I thought we did that," George said of the Clippers' effort. "We have to mat