A struggle defeating very short-handed Clippers, Vogel's future: Takeaways from Suns win

LOS ANGELES — The Phoenix Suns will take a triumph any way they can against whoever is on the court.

They struggled for most of Wednesday's 124-108 win against the very short-handed Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena before pulling away to draw within a half-game of the sixth spot held by New Orleans in the West.

The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard (knee), Paul George (knee), James Harden (foot), Russell Westbrook (hand) and Ivica Zubac (knee), but they closed the first half on a 20-4 run to take a 56-55 halftime lead.

Bones Hyland scored 24 of his game-high 37 points in the first half for the Clippers (51-29), who also elected not to play key reserve Norman Powell.

The Suns (47-33) got starting 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic back from an ankle injury, had everyone available except Damion Lee (knee), who hasn’t played all season and were coming off an inexcusable 105-92 home loss Tuesday to the Clippers, in which they were down 35-4 and trailed by as many as 37 in the first half.

The Suns led by as many as 15 points in the first half Wednesday, but squandered that advantage and struggled to close out a team that was without its four best players and starting center.

It took Phoenix's Big 3 to combine for 87 points and play major minutes when the Suns should’ve been watching the entire fourth quarter from the bench while cruising to a comfortable win, especially when Frank Vogel said before the game he was looking forward to a “competitive response” to Tuesday’s loss.

Devin Booker scored a game-high 37 points with 12 coming in the fourth as the Suns outscored the Clippers, 32-15, in the game's final 12 minutes. Bradley Beal went for 26 and Kevin Durant added 24.

The Suns attempted a season-high 50 shots from 3, making 18.

It also took the Clippers going cold for a five-minute stretch in the fourth for Phoenix to pull out the win. Los Angeles had a 106-101 lead with 7:48 left in the game. The Clippers didn’t score again until 2:40 left in the game and found themselves down 114-108.

Then Durant and Booker hit back-to-back 3s to push Phoenix’s advantage to 120-108, forcing Clippers coach Ty Lue to call a timeout with 1:59 left. The Suns closed the game on a commanding 23-2 finish.

Here are takeaways from Wednesday's win as the Suns now have the fifth-toughest remaining schedule.

'Worst night of the season': Vogel's future

The look on Vogel's face in discussing Wednesday's win over the Clippers after losing to them Tuesday at home where they trailed 35-4 was one of relief, stress and pressure.

"It was good," Vogel said. "We had a terrible night last night. Probably our worst night of the season in terms of how we started that game and the deficit we created for ourselves. Didn't feel good."

Vogel has faced a ton of criticism for how this season has unfolded. He's faced injuries that's largely led to 20-plus different starting lineups, but a team with Booker, Durant and Beal isn't supposed to be fighting to stay out of the play-in.

Something is wrong here.

When a coach has repeatedly said there are issues with game-plan discipline, there is often a disconnect between the message delivery and how it's being received by the players.

When a coach has repeatedly said he and the staff are holding the players accountable, the question becomes why is he having to do that with such force with a group that's known from Day 1 the championship expectations?

Maybe, just maybe, the Suns are going raise their level and make a real run at the finals. They've beaten the top two teams in the West twice in Minnesota and Denver. So, they're capable of it. Incoming apologies to Vogel, but if the Suns get bounced out of the playoffs early?

Can't see Ishbia, Suns staying pat

The Suns have improved on the defensive end, but the offense still has stagnant moments of one-on-one. They continue to have issues with turnovers and guarding the ball, which leaves leaks in their 3-point defense.

These shouldn't be recurring problems, but they have been under Vogel.

Suns team owner Mat Ishbia fired Monty Williams, who coached the Suns to the 2021 finals and a franchise-best 64 wins in 2021-22, and replaced him with Vogel, a championship coach who places great emphasis on defense.

He coached LeBron James and Anthony Davis to a title in the 2020 Orlando Bubble. So Vogel knows how to coach superstars. Having fewer practices and more film sessions to rest legs is part of that formula, but Booker and Durant are giving heavy input in these film sessions.

Understandable, but when you have two guys who know the game like Durant and Booker, there are bound to be some challenging talks on what to do and what not to do.

There's a reason why the Suns signed Vogel to a five-year, $31-million contract. This is a high-profile job that's asking the head coach to work a top-heavy roster that signed vet minimum guys and made three-team trades.

Ishbia isn't spending over the league's second tax apron and incurring a ridiculous luxury tax for this team to be in this position.

If the Suns have to start the postseason in the play-in and don't make it out of it or have a first-round exit, someone will more than likely have to take the fall for this.

Vogel? Suns general manager James Jones? Based on the major moves Ishbia has made since becoming team owner, can't see him staying pat if the Suns don't make it out of April in the postseason.

O'Neale starts, Young plays, no Bol temporary changes?

Vogel didn’t want to reveal possible changes or adjustments after Tuesday’s loss, but he wound up making two clear-cut ones — started Royce O’Neale for Grayson Allen, who has started all season, but has been struggling from 3, and played Thaddeus Young at the backup five instead of Drew Eubanks.

However, Vogel plans to go back to Allen in the starting lineup for Friday’s huge matchup at Sacramento.

“It’s just something we’ve been talking about,” Vogel said after Wednesday’s game. “If we get into a playoff matchup where we have a bigger opponent, then we feel like his size in the starting lineup is something that would make sense. We didn’t want to go to that with Grayson coming off the bench for the first time having never done it. We used this one game to let Grayson just feel the rhythm of coming off the bench, if it’s needed in the playoffs.”

Allen had gone 0-for-15 from deep over the course of three games, but did go 2-of-3 after that with one giving the Suns a 110-106 advantage with 6:02 left in the game, forcing a Clippers' timeout.

Allen finished with six points, four rebounds and foul fouls in 24 minutes while O'Neale posted 15 points, hitting 3-of-9 from 3, seven rebounds, five assists to just one turnover, three steals and a blocked shot.

O'Neale is taller than Allen, a better defender, but Allen has been starting all season and has been huge in his first year with the Suns. Then again, the Suns added $20 million to their tax bill when trading for O'Neale before the deadline.

This is a tough call that Vogel has clearly been mulling over. He's fortunate that O'Neale can flow either starting or coming off the bench. He'll be in the game come crunch time. Vogel may be going back to Allen, but by starting O'Neale, the door is now open to go back to that at any point.

As for Young seeing action as a backup five to Nurkic, it's matchup-driven, too, for Vogel. Young didn't score in 13 minutes, but can rebound and find shooters in the pocket. Eubanks can board, but isn't the passer Young is and isn't as experienced as the veteran big is, either.

Bol Bol didn't see any action Wednesday, either, until garbage minutes. Again, a matchup-based call, but one that takes away a unique offensive talent who at 7-foot-2 can be a defensive liability, especially at the five.

Play-in, playoff status for Phoenix

The Suns have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Pelicans (47-32). So they need New Orleans to lose to draw even with them for the sixth spot. The Pelicans are at Sacramento (45-34) on Thursday and at Golden State (44-35) on Friday in the second of a back-to-back before returning home to end the regular season Sunday against the Lakers (45-35).

The Kings are 1.5 games behind the Suns in ninth with their season series tied, 2-2. Phoenix's game at Sacramento on Friday will be the second of a back-to-back for the Kings, who end their regular season Sunday versus Portland (21-58).

So, the Suns just completed a home-away back-to-back against a team that pretty much sat their top six players Wednesday. As Beal said after the game, Phoenix needed this win "in the worst way."

Now the Kings are going to be on the second of a back-to-back when they face Phoenix. Yes, the game is in Sacramento, but will be coming off what should be a tough game against the Pelicans.

Then the Pelicans will play the second of a back-to-back at the Warriors, who are trying to avoid that 10th seed in the West that requires two road wins just to land the eighth seed in the West.

The Timberwolves (55-25) may need a win Sunday against Phoenix to secure the one or two seed in the West. They are a game behind the defending NBA champion and No. 1 seed Nuggets after Thursday's loss at Denver. The season series tied 2-2, the T-Wolves have the better division record, but if the Nuggets win out, they'll capture the one seed. They end their regular season at San Antonio and Memphis, two of the three worst teams in the West.

Advantage Denver (56-24), but the T-Wolves are also trying to hold off Oklahoma City (55-25). They split their four games, and have the same division record, but Minnesota has the better conference record to currently have the second seed in the West.

This is all makes for Phoenix taking a fascinating path to the sixth seed.

One, win out. Two, have the Pelicans lose once. Three, beat Minnesota to sweep the season series, drop the T-Wolves to third and have all the momentum going into a first-round series against them.

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: Vogel's future, O'Neale or Allen: Takeaways from Suns win at short-handed Clippers