5 takeaways from short-handed Suns nearly coming back from 39 down at Clippers

LOS ANGELES — This got ugly.

Fast.

The Phoenix Suns were actually hanging in there trailing by only four at the end of the first quarter of their Wednesday night game against the L.A.. Clippers.

Then within the first 5 minutes of the second quarter, the game was completely out of control.

With Paul George and Norman Powell playing their first game together, the Clippers opened the second quarter on a 21-0 run to run far, far away from Phoenix

Then the Suns, who scored just nine points in the second quarter, nearly caught them.

They cut what was a 39-point Clippers lead down to four with 10.2 seconds left before losing, 113-109, at Crypto.com Arena in the second of a back-to-back for Phoenix.

This is with the Clippers shooting 35-of-44 from the line while Phoenix shot just 8-of-12.

That's the difference in the actual score.

Suns coach Monty Williams decided to sit Devin Booker (lower back soreness), Deandre Ayton (right ankle soreness), Jae Crowder (right ankle soreness) and Chris Paul (right thumb injury management).

So with four starters down, Phoenix (63-17) appeared to be no match for the Clippers (40-40) until the game became far more interesting than it should've been.

Here are five takeaways from the loss as the Suns end a two-game road trip Friday at Utah.

1. Williams explained his reasoning for sitting Paul, Booker, Ayton and Crowder.

"It was a back-to-back and what they've been dealing with," Williams said before Wednesday's game. "DA tweaked his ankle last night in the game and it looked like the same thing that he did in Detroit. Thankfully it wasn't as bad."

Ayton missed seven games with a right ankle sprain.

"They're all kind of dealing with things that have just kind of piled up," Williams continued. "The back-to-back and all the stuff that we've talked about. This whole thing is hard trying to navigate, but they are dealing with some stuff that just kind of piled up a little bit."

When specifically asked about Paul, who hasn't missed a game since returning from fractured right thumb on his shooting hand that kept him out of 15 games, Williams said he felt like this was a good opportunity to "give that thing a break" from playing.

"He's one of those guys that unless we tell him you got to sit, he won't sit," Williams continued. "So I talked to him about it last night cause he's dealing with the thumb and just stuff. These guys have played a lot of basketball, especially Book the last few years. Olympics, finals, all of it. So he's been in the training room a lot more. Getting more and more stuff on his back, legs. So we just thought let's give him a night to get back to somewhat solid as we can."

2. With the injury report out of the way, let's get to the game.

Williams mentioned two players he wanted to see play were Cameron Payne and Cam Johnson. He looked to see how Payne ran the team and Johnson continuing to find his shot and get in condition.

Johnson missed 13 games with a right quad contusion. He shot a combined 2-of-14 from 3 in his first two games back, but went 3-of-7 on 3s in Tuesday's win over the Lakers that eliminated Los Angeles from playoff contention.

In the second of a back-to-back, Johnson shot 1-of-8 from deep in scoring seven points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Ugh.

As for Payne, he had four assists, but turned the ball over three times through three quarters. He scored 10 points, but only made 4-of-11 shots from the field.

3. The Clippers are about as close to full strength as they've been all season outside of Kawhi Leonard still being out with the knee injury.

They didn't face the fullness of the Suns, but disposed of them the way a team should at home.

Soundly, with their starting unit.

George scored 19, Powell went for 24 in just his fourth game with the Clippers since the trade from Portland and Ivica Zubac added 13 and 11 boards.

These two teams may very well meet in the first round of this year's playoff after battling for six games in last year's conference finals. The Clippers will likely play the Timberwolves for the seventh seed with the loser facing the Pelicans-Spurs winner for the eighth and final playoff spot to setup a matchup with the No. 1 seed Suns.

The Clippers are a tough matchup for Phoenix because they have shot takers and makers in George, Powell, Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris Sr.

Zubac makes Ayton work to keep him off the offensive boards and Robert Covington can go inferno from 3.

4. Bismack Biyombo and Ish Wainright aren't in the consistent 10-man rotation.

It takes serious foul trouble or guys sitting out for them to play decent minutes, but both are guys you need on a championship team.

They're going to play hard regardless of the situation, physical and play with a quiet intensity.

Well, Biyombo is a little bit more emotional on the court than Wainright, but those two led a strong fourth quarter in which the Suns cut what was a 39-point Clippers lead to eight with 52.4 seconds left in game on a Wainright 3.

Wainright finished with a career-high 20 points, hitting 4-of-7 from 3 (both career highs), and eight rebounds (also a career high).

He had the entire Suns bench on their feet

Aaron Holiday added 16 while Biyombo chipped in 14 points and 12 boards as the Suns scored 48 points in the fourth quarter.

They had Clippers coach Ty Lue calling timeout he'd rather not have to take.

Even though Los Angeles should have won the game, Phoenix was making enough of a push to can it uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable.

That's nearly as strong a message as the Clippers delivered in building a 39-point lead.

5. Iffe Lundberg made his first NBA basket in the fourth quarter.

The first Danish player ever in the league has now scored in his third NBA game.

Knocked down a three. Gave the sign.

The Suns bench stood up. Williams says he's now American.

They celebrate everything.

Lundberg got the game ball.

Congratulations.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 takeaways from Suns nearly coming back from 39 down at Clippers