Seeing Los Angeles Clippers picked to win West in ESPN panel of NBA folks should fuel Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns should be extra motivated after seeing the Los Angeles Clippers have been picked to come out of the Western Conference and win it all this season.
Earlier this week, ESPN posted the panel results of 15 NBA coaches, scouts and executives on predictions for the 2022-23 season.
The Clippers received eight of the 15 votes to win the West and five of the 15 to capture the franchise’s first NBA championship.
The Suns, who are essentially returning the same team that registered the NBA’s best record last season in winning a franchise-record 64 games, received three votes, as did defending NBA champion Golden State.
Phoenix fell short of reaching the finals, losing Game 7 of the conference semifinals to Dallas by 33 points at home.
"Assuming there's been some massaging of the (Deandre) Ayton situation, they should be good," one panelist said in the story. "They've shown they can win some of the games when (Chris Paul) is not available, and if Chris is healthy, they'll be really, really good when it matters."
The Warriors garnished two votes to win it all. Phoenix didn’t receive any.
As much as Suns fans despise the Lakers and see them as rivals, Phoenix has had more spirited and meaningful battles with the Clippers in the last three seasons.
Oct. 19, 2019: Suns 130-122. Devin Booker and Patrick Beverley got into it early, but Booker got the last word as he finished with 30 points and eight assists in Monty Williams’ first season as head coach.
Aug. 4, 2020: Suns 117-115. Booker’s fadeaway shot over Kawhi Leonard and Paul George at the buzzer stunned the Clippers in what proved to be their signature win in an improbable 8-0 bubble run.
The image of Booker laying flat on his back after hitting the game-winner will forever live in Phoenix.
Jan. 3, 2021: Clippers 112-107. George torched the Suns for 39 points in a game where the Clippers nearly blew a 31-point lead.
Beyond the score, George and Booker had a very heated verbal exchange after George and Chris Paul got into it on a wild night in Phoenix.
June 22, 2021: Suns 104-103. The Valley-Oop.
Ayton’s lob finish of Jae Crowder’s baseline inbound pass with 0.7 seconds left gave Phoenix a 2-0 series lead in the conference finals to send a sellout crowd at Footprint Center into an uncontrollable frenzy.
June 30, 2021: Suns 130-103. Paul put on a virtuoso performance in leading Phoenix to a Game 6 win over his former team and a trip to the finals.
The All-Star point guard scored a game-high 41. At one point, Paul accounted for 24 of Phoenix's 30 points as the Suns built a 119-92 lead in the fourth.
With the Suns pulling away, a frustrated Beverley pushed Paul in the back late in the fourth quarter during a timeout, signaling Phoenix had broken the Clippers.
Dec. 13, 2021: Clippers 111-95. This was their first meeting since the conference finals. No Booker, Ayton, George or Leonard, but Los Angeles enjoyed the comfortable home victory over the Suns.
April 6, 2022: Clippers 113-109. Resting four starters – Booker, Paul, Ayton and Crowder – in the second of a back-to-back after breaking the franchise record for wins, Phoenix trailed by as many as 39 points but rallied in the fourth to pull within four with 10.2 seconds left before losing by the same amount.
The results are one thing.
The fact that the Clippers were without Leonard for the 2021 conference finals takes some of the steam out of Phoenix’s run to the finals.
In the eyes of some, had Leonard been healthy and able to play, the Clippers, not the Suns, would’ve won that series.
Leonard injured his knee in the 2021 conference semifinals against the Jazz and didn’t play the entire 2021-22 season. That didn’t stop the Clippers from believing they could beat Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs.
“Any team that’s definitely seeing us is going to be something different,” Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. said. "I think they’re going to be very surprised. Not really surprised, but if I was a team and happened to get us as an eighth seed, I would be like, damn, that’s going to be a tough run.”
The Suns had already locked up the No. 1 seed while the Clippers had to come out of the play-in tournament to earn a playoff bid.
Los Angeles missed out on the seventh seed in a loss at Minnesota, but a home win over New Orleans would’ve given them the eighth seed to set up the rematch of last year’s conference finals.
The Clippers didn’t hold up their end.
New Orleans beat them in Los Angeles to earn the eighth and final seed in the West.
Now the Clippers are being picked to win the West after not making the playoffs last season.
Why?
Leonard is back.
Read more: How would free agent Carmelo Anthony fit with Phoenix Suns?
Add John Wall and a healthy George, the Clippers are a championship contender, but so is Phoenix.
Those NBA’s 15 coaches, scouts and executives as a collective just think the Clippers have a better chance of winning it all than the Suns, Warriors and everyone else in the league.
Oct. 23 can’t get here soon enough.
Got Suns vs. Clippers in Los Angeles.
The Suns should hope for a healthy Leonard and George.
Beating the Clippers at full strength will prove once and for all they’re the better team – injuries or not – and may ultimately lead to Phoenix winning its first NBA championship.
Read more: Suns' Dario Saric looks ready playing for Croatian national team
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: Kawhi Leonard's return will take Clippers-Suns battles to next level
