Game Preview: IT'S HERE! The Phoenix Suns' season begins against the new-look Clipper squad

WHO: Phoenix Suns (0-0) @ Los Angeles Clippers (0-0)

When: 7:00 p.m. Arizona time

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

Regard: ESPN, Arizona's Family 3TV, Arizona's Family Sports

Hear: KMVP 98.7

Insert the Heath Ledger meme here…because here we go! The 2024-25 season begins tonight for the Suns as they take on the Los Angeles Clippers! I feel like Kevin McAllister running around his incredibly huge house in the Chicago suburbs (what did his father do for a living?!) after learning that he made his family disappear. I can hardly contain my excitement. The grind begins tonight!

There are so many questions surrounding this Phoenix Suns team. What will the rotations look like? Will the three-point shooting experiment work in their favor? What will this team be on defense? Will Ryan Dunn be Kawni Leonard 2.0? Will Gamemakers solve their problems?

One game won't give us all the answers, but starting tonight we will begin to see and understand who this Suns team really is.

The Clippers are a team that isn't very popular at the start of the season. It makes sense, right? They lost Paul George to Philly. Kawhi is out indefinitely. When Steve Balmer opens his $2 billion arena, James Harden will be its leading man. 35-year-old James Harden. It's easy to see why the total over/under wins this season is 35.5 wins. This team won 51 a season ago. But this isn’t the same Clippers team.

Likely starters

Injury report

Suns

• Grayson Allen – PROBABLY (right Achilles tendon pain)
• Damion Lee – PROBABLY (left hamstring pain)
• Josh Okogie – OUT (right hamstring strain)

Hair clippers

• Kawhi Leonard – OUT (Illness)
• Mo Bamba – OUT (left knee pain)
• PJ Tucker – OUT (not with team)

Uniform matchup

What you should pay attention to

The three-ball of course!

Welcome, Suns fans, to modern basketball.

The key to a Suns win

Defense, defense, defense.

That's the only issue this team still needs to address, in my opinion, although additions like Ryan Dunn will really help. With such a strong team on offense, their defense is a big question mark. Will they try to get this thing to “Seven Seconds or Less Suns” and rely on them outscoring every team to win? Or can they prevent the opponent from also collecting points?

I didn't like what I saw in the first quarters of preseason in terms of defense. We were overwhelmed on offense, while on the defensive side of the ball the team looked like a white picket fence with no railings.

The team surpassed 25 points (171 to 146) in five first quarters of the preseason. While the Suns shot 45.5% from the field and 41.9% from deep, their opponents shot 56.1% from the field and 42% from deep. They were outrebounded 63-51.

A strong start is a must, and it starts defensively.

forecast

Download Mason Plumlee Revenge Game? I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

It will be fascinating to see how the Suns perform when it really matters – whether they can shake off the echoes of the past and remain focused on their current goals, especially in these crucial fourth quarters. We're all excited to see this team in action, and the opener against the Clippers and Lakers seems like the perfect way to set the tone. Two division rivals, two chances to make a statement.

Suns take this one. They launch 44 three-pointers and hit 17 of them, which corresponds to a solid shooting rate of 38.6%. We laugh, we cry and prepare for 81 more games.

Suns 112, Clippers 105