Devin Booker scored 25 points before fouling out in the final minute, Chris Paul made clutch free throws on a night everyone was missing and the Phoenix Suns escaped with an 84-80 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Suns can advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993 with a victory Monday night in Phoenix.
The Clippers struggled with poor shooting in all but the third quarter, when they made 10 of 17 shots to pull within three points. They got within one four times in the fourth, but could never take the lead in front of a sellout crowd that hung on every agonizing miss.
LA shot 32% (27 of 83) for the game; Phoenix was barely better at 36% (31 of 86). The Clippers made five 3-pointers in the game; the Suns hit four.
Deandre Ayton added 19 points and a career playoff-high 22 rebounds, and Paul had 18 points and seven assists.
Paul George had 23 points, 16 rebounds and six assists before fouling out with 1 second left. Reggie Jackson added 20 points for the Clippers. Ivica Zubac had 13 points and 14 rebounds.
The Clippers successfully challenged a call in the final minute that led to Booker’s sixth foul. Terance Mann scored and they trailed 79-76.
The final 13 seconds turned into a free-throw shooting contest. Paul made 5 of 6. The Clippers were 4 of 8, deliberately missing three of them to try to score. But it didn’t work.
With injured Kawhi Leonard again watching from a suite, the Clippers outscored the Suns 30-19 in the third, only to get outscored 15-14 in the fourth.
Booker picked up his fourth foul early in the fourth, along with a technical for arguing the call. That put George at the line and he made 2 of 3, missing the last one that would have tied the game for the first time. Instead, the Clippers trailed 71-70.
It stayed that way for minutes, with the Suns committing two turnovers and Booker getting his fifth foul. George missed two shots and the Clippers turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation.
Then Paul tossed up an alley-oop pass that Ayton slammed and Booker hit a jumper, keeping the Suns ahead 75-72.
Maddeningly, shots either rimmed out for both teams or hit the rim and bounced away, creating frantic scrambles for loose balls.
Paul ran off seven straight points early in the third, dropping his former team into a 13-point hole.
But the Clippers outscored the Suns 20-10 from there and trailed 69-66 heading into the fourth. Phoenix went without a field goal over the final few minutes of the third, when Booker made 4 of 6 free throws.
The Clippers shot 13 of 44 in the first half. None of them could get it going: George and Jackson were 3 of 11 and Marcus Morris was 1 of 6.
Phoenix raced to leads of 14-2 and 20-9 in the first quarter. The Clippers made just one of their first seven shots — a dunk by Zubac. Seven of George’s 11 points in the half came on a 3-pointer and four free throws.
Booker picked up three fouls in the first half, two of them within minutes of each other in the second quarter. At that point, the Suns were up by 16.
Trail Blazers hire Chauncey Billups as new coach
The Portland Trail Blazers have settled on Los Angeles Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups as their new coach but the deal has not been finalized, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Friday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the offer had not been formally announced. The Athletic reported that Billups had accepted the job but contract negotiations were ongoing.
Billups, the 2004 NBA Finals MVP and a five-time NBA All-Star over a 17-year playing career, has never been a head coach. The Blazers were also interested in Brooklyn Nets assistant Mike D’Antoni, as well as San Antonio Spurs assistant Becky Hammon.
Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jason Kidd withdrew his name from consideration after it was reported that Blazers guard Damian Lillard had endorsed him for the job.
Billups, 44, was hired as an assistant under Clippers coach Tyronn Lue last November.
The Blazers parted ways with Terry Stotts shortly after the team was eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the opening round of the playoffs.
Stotts coached the Blazers for nine seasons, taking them to the playoffs in the last eight. But Portland failed to advance past the first round in four of the last five years.
The 63-year-old Stotts was the NBA’s fourth-longest tenured coach this past season, behind only San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Dallas’ Rick Carlisle. He went 402-318 in his nine regular seasons in Portland and led the Blazers to the Western Conference finals in 2019, where they were swept by Golden State.
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