Phoenix Suns look to 'accept the challenge' of guarding L.A. Clippers without injured Kevin Durant

Numbers say the Phoenix Suns are improving defensively, but their man-to-man principles will be tested significantly in Wednesday’s showdown against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“We’ve got to challenge ourselves every game to be better,” Suns star guard Bradley Beal said. “Our next game, we’re really going to be challenged to guard one-on-one 'cause that’s what they love to do.”

The Clippers (20-12) have four elite players in Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Paul George and Russell Westbrook who can score off the bounce along with key reserve Norman Powell.

They lead the league in isolation possessions per game and average points on isolation.

“We’ve just got to make sure we’re dialed in,” Beal continued. “Be willing to accept the challenge personally knowing that a lot of teams nowadays, it’s three balls and calling out whoever they think is the weakest defender. That’s kind of how the league has transitioned and we have to make sure that we don’t feel like you’re one of those guys being called out. We’ve got to plant our feet in the ground and be ready to guard.”

The Clippers matchup begins the second half of Phoenix’s six-game homestand.

The Suns then play Friday versus Miami and Sunday against Memphis, which has Ja Morant back after serving his 25-game suspension.

“We’ve got some good barometer games for us to see where we’re at, but I like our chances against anyone,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said.

The Suns (18-15) will be without Kevin Durant as he missed Monday’s 109-88 victory over Portland with right hamstring soreness. He has been ruled out Wednesday's game.

Vogel said Durant tweaked it in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 112-107 win versus Orlando and described him as day-to-day going into Monday’s game.

The superstar forward is averaging 29.9 points per game on 52.5% shooting (47.7% from 3), 6.3 rebounds and six assists per game in 28 games.

“With Kev, he starts our ball movement just by getting double teamed,” said Suns wing Grayson Allen after Monday’s win. “We missed some of that so we had to create more of it through screen-and-roll, through drive-and-kick stuff to get the ball moving."

The Suns scored by committee in Monday’s win as they had seven players reach double figures. Beal scored a game-high 21 points.

“You can’t replace what he brings to the floor,” Suns star guard Devin Booker said about Durant. “It’s going to take multiple people.”

Booker shot just 4-of-16 Monday in scoring only 10 points, two shy of tying his season-low.

“Grayson set me up, I caught the ball, it felt foreign,” Booker said. “There are nights like that. If kids can learn anything from this situation, just keep shooting. It'll even back out. I'll get on the heater soon.”

The Suns have been lacking on defense for most of the season despite having a defensive-minded head coach in Vogel, but they’ve shown improvement within the last week on that end.

Phoenix has gone from 19th in the NBA in defensive rating after the Christmas loss to Dallas to 14^th following Monday’s win over Portland.

During this current four-game winning streak, the Suns are fourth in defensive rating.

“We struggled to guard the paint early in the season and we’re trying to improve in that area in all ways that we can,” Vogel said. “Executing our coverages, it starts there.”

Vogel has been preaching ball containment, gap/help defense and having a tighter shell – and continues to call on 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic to have a defensive presence in the paint.

They’ve played better on that side, but Beal called the Suns defense “a little tragic” after Sunday’s win over Orlando and said the team must take “a little bit more pride” in guarding 1-on-1.

Numbers say they’ve improved on that end.

The Clippers will test where the Suns are defensively Wednesday night.

Vogel is calling upon Allen to draw the best perimeter matchup in the starting unit. Allen has started all 28 games he’s played for his new team after arriving in a three-team deal right before training camp.

Allen’s offensive versatility, which includes getting to the rim to score or create and hitting the 3 at a career-best 45.6%, has helped solidify him as a starter, but the Suns are smaller within him in that lineup. Vogel also likes having Josh Okogie, the team’s top perimeter defender, at the three.

“He’s someone I really believe in from a defensive standpoint and what he can do,” Vogel said about Okogie, who is shooting a career-low 25% from 3 and battled multiple injuries this season.

“I like what he can do, but right now, what we’re getting from a two-way standpoint from Grayson, what he’s giving us offensively and defensively, he’ll be in that spot.”

Nurkic has been a defensive liability in terms of opponents just driving the ball at him and scoring, but Vogel applauded the 7-footer’s defense after Monday’s win.

Nurkic had two blocks and a steal in the game. He was part of that three-team deal before camp that led to Damian Lillard going to Milwaukee and Deandre Ayton landing in Portland.

“I thought Nurk was really good attacking everything that came to the basket,” Vogel said. “Every cut, every drive, every roll. Just using his size. Not worrying about his own man and just being an attacker for everything that comes to the basket. I think he’s really growing in that regard.”

Numerous injuries have slowed down the process of figuring out Vogel’s schemes, but he hasn’t looked to simplify the schemes.

“We have to build a system that's going to win for us in the playoffs,” Vogel said last month. “We want it to be simple enough that it can be executed, but we have to build throughout the course of the season.”

Okogie has stressed the importance of communicating on defense, saying the defense has broken down within the last five or so seconds of the shot clock.

“I don’t want to say it’s complex,” Okogie said last month about the defense. “We have a lot more in our bag and it’s just being able to any given point say, 'we’re not doing this, we’re doing that.' Whatever we’re being asked to do is pretty simple, but we just have so many things to do.  It’s like a multiplication test with 100 questions, but each question is like, two times two, four times four. Pretty easy, but it’s a lot of questions.”

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

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns 'accept the challenge' of guarding Clippers minus injured Kevin Durant