4 observations on Phoenix Suns unfortunately predictable loss

The Phoenix Suns faced a tall order against the LA Clippers Tuesday night, but they did get their tallest player back in Deandre Ayton.

This second game of a back-to-back was always going to be a tough one to win for the Phoenix Suns. The LA Clippers are one of the best teams in the West, and the Suns are somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Ish.

But when word came out Devin Booker would miss his third consecutive game with a wrist contusion, and this happened not to be a load management game for Kawhi Leonard, the chances of a Suns win diminished greatly.

And if that wasn’t enough, Cam Johnson sat out with hip soreness (a little concerning considering his history with hip surgery) and Tyler Johnson quarantined himself for the second straight game due to an “illness.”

Yes, I put illness in quotes. I have no inside information on the matter whatsoever, but I interpret this as illness simply sounding more justifiable than the sniffles.

It would have taken something special to beat the Clippers Tuesday night and without that, it really became just an opportunity for everyone to welcome back Deandre Ayton to the court.

More on him later.

Here are four standout observations from what amounted to a throwaway game. Not that the Suns didn’t try or didn’t think they could win, but the deck was stacked against them.

It is another reason why those heart-crushing losses to the Spurs and Trail Blazers (and really the Grizzlies before that) hurt so much. Gotta win the winnable ones.

Back to those observations.