In what was the sixth game of the preseason for the Clippers and the seventh for the Suns, let's be honest: between various injuries and the fact that Phoenix was playing their second game in as many nights, we were not exactly seeing the best that each team had to offer. And since depth has been a concern for the Clippers since the beginning of training camp, when you look at the lineups, it's not surprising that the Suns cruised to an 86-69 victory over L.A. at Staples Center.
The Suns played without Steve Nash, who sat with a minor ankle sprain, and gave regulars Shaquille O'Neal, Raja Bell, and Matt Barnes the night off after the trio played a bunch of minutes in the team's double overtime game against the Bobcats last night. But solid games from Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa, along with 30 big minutes from Amare Stoudemire off the bench, were more than enough to send the Clippers to their second loss of the preseason.
The Clippers were of course still without Baron Davis and his sprained finger, and Marcus Camby and his injured heel. Chris Kaman played pretty well, dropping in 16 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes, but he didn't receive a whole lot of help. The team shot just 33% from the field, and made just 1-12 three-point attempts. It was a fairly lackluster game from both teams, considering the amount of star power on each club's roster that sat this one out. Thankfully for the fans, several in attendance got to see the game for free.
L.A. had an interesting promotion going, where they were actually giving away tickets to a few of their preseason games. The catch? There was none. Seriously. Spend a few minutes filling out a web form and consenting to be harassed by some ticket sales people, and you were in: two free tickets to see some NBA action, preseason as it may be. One of my friends took advantage of the offer, and he was there tonight sitting in lower level Premier seats, free of charge. After watching mostly the reserves for the Clippers mange to put up only 69 points though, I wonder if he somehow feels ripped off by the whole experience.
