Why have Phoenix Suns struggled when opponents' star players sit out games?

It's been three steps forward and two steps back by the Phoenix Suns entering their season-closing three-game road trip.

In their 105-92 blowout home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, the Suns regressed from sixth in the Western Conference standings to seventh, a play-in tournament spot, and swapped places with the New Orleans Pelicans. In the Suns' final regular season home game, they were manhandled by rival Clippers for the third straight time, and L.A. clinched the Pacific Division in the process.

The Clippers did this without James Harden (foot) and Kawhi Leonard (knee), two of their three guys who made the NBA's 75 Greatest Ever list along with Russell Westbrook. This continued the Suns' growing trend of losing or being routed in games against opponents playing without their superstars over the past three weeks.

The Clippers and Suns were meeting again Wednesday night in L.A., and both Leonard and Harden were ruled out again, this time along with Paul George, who scored 23 points Tuesday.

Phoenix fell on March 17 at the Milwaukee Bucks, who were without star player Giannis Antetokounmpo, 140-129. On March 23, Phoenix dissolved in the final minute at the Western Conference's worst team, San Antonio Spurs, who were without star rookie Victor Wembanyama. That came right after Phoenix beat the Spurs with Wembanyama in the lineup.

The West's third-place Oklahoma City Thunder annihilated the Suns, 128-103, on March 29 sans MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

"It's definitely something we talked about before the game," Devin Booker (12 points, 1-of-11 shooting three rebounds, five assists, two steals) said after Tuesday's game. "Not putting our guard down, but we never disrespect any team. There's a lot of talented players in this league."

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After the Suns staged three consecutive statement wins and solid defensive games last week against New Orleans, the Eastern Conference's then-No. 3 team Cleveland, and the West's No. 1 team and league's top defense Minnesota, Phoenix was handed its second straight loss in its final home game by L.A. Tuesday.

The loss left the Suns faithful at Footprint Center aghast and bitter witnessing a first-half horror that saw Phoenix down 35-4 at one point in the first quarter, something difficult to overlook even after a second-half revival that shaved the lead to seven at 6:46 left to play.

The Clippers dominated Phoenix with Leonard and Harden playing in the first two games in which they met, on Jan. 3 and 8. Leonard scored 30 and Harden had 22 with 11 assists on Jan. 3. In the second Suns-Clippers meeting, Leonard produced 17 points with five steals, and Harden almost put up a triple-double line of 19 points, 10 assists, and seven assists.

On Tuesday, in addition to Paul George's 23, all five Clippers starters and backup forward Amir Coffey (13 points) scored in double figures. Westbrook led the balanced attack with his own triple-double of 16 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists in his first start since November.

"It just shows the depth we have on the team," Westbrook said. "We have a lot of guys that can compete, can play at the highest level. It's my job as a point guard to trust in those guys and find ways to make the game evenflow."

Suns coach Frank Vogel looked visibly frustrated and was terse in answering many of the media's questions after the game. Vogel did offer a theory about the Clippers playing without two top stars and Westbrook's performance.

"Other teams get a lift when their stars are out, and 'Aww, I get to shoot more shots.' Russell Westbrook comes in, and he's been playing off the bench this season," Vogel said.

"He's gonna be in the starting lineup, he gets to be Russell Westbrook again. We understood that coming in. We just didn't compete well enough against it."

There's another noticeable factor in games where opponents' star players sit: A decline in the Suns' 3-point shooting during the first half, and made 3-pointers allowed.

With the exception of the Spurs loss, in which San Antonio shot 25.8% from deep, the Suns allowed an average of 52.6% from the Bucks, Thunder, and Clippers from 3. The Suns hit just 33.1% from the 3 in all four of those games, down from their 38% average, ranking them sixth in the league at 3-point percentage per game. The Suns are 14th at 36.5% in 3-point percentage allowed.

In addition, the Suns are 17th at 37.1 percent, at opponent 3-point percentage in the first half, but nearly doubled that allowance at 63.7% in those losses to the Bucks (which they tied the league record 18 made first-half 3s), the Thunder (made a whopping 72.7% on first-half trey attempts), and Clippers (60% in the first half on Tuesday).

The Suns shot 31.4% in the first half during all four of those losses, down from their seventh-ranked 38.8% average in first halves from the perimeter. They hit a terrible 11.1% in the first half against the Clippers, plus the league's top 3-point shooter Grayson Allen and Booker shot a combined 0-of-12 from 3 on Tuesday.

So in addition to the Suns' fourth-quarter woes, it's not how they finish, but also how they've started out of rhythm from the arc in those four losses.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Clippers' rout adds to Suns' recent losses to teams missing superstars