Clippers vs Suns Recap: Phoenix Hits 22 Threes in 133-110 Rout

Game Breakdowns
Written by christopher martinez

By Clipper Nation Insider (@ClipNationIns) | Nov. 10, 2026 | Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix

The Phoenix Suns beat the LA Clippers 133-110 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, at Mortgage Matchup Center by winning the two fights LA came in planning to win: the three-point line and the glass. Phoenix shot 22-of-43 from three (51%) to LA's 15-of-44 (34%), a 66-45 scoring edge from deep, and outrebounded the Clippers 49-37 despite entering the night as the NBA's worst rebounding team (38.8 per game). The Suns' bench outscored LA's 81-62, led by Jordan Goodwin's 18 points on 6-of-7 from three in 14 minutes. LA forced 20 Phoenix turnovers and won points off turnovers 25-23, and it still lost by 23. Phoenix closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run, never trailed again, and led by as many as 32. The Suns improve to 4-6; the Clippers fall to 2-8 (0-5 on the road).

Why did the Suns beat the Clippers?

Shot quality and shot making from three, plus 40 defensive rebounds. Phoenix's effective field-goal percentage was 68.2% (49 makes plus half of 22 threes, over 88 attempts) against LA's 50.6% (38 makes plus half of 15 threes, over 90 attempts). The rest of the box was close or tilted toward LA: points in the paint finished 44-44, the Clippers won fast-break points 16-10, made six more free throws (19-of-26 against 13-of-20), had 10 steals to Phoenix's 4 and committed 13 turnovers (12 player, 1 team) to Phoenix's 20 (19 player, 1 team). None of that offsets a 21-point gap from three and a 12-rebound gap on the boards. The Clippers' last lead was 18-16 on Darius Garland's step-back three with 3:20 left in the first quarter. Per ESPN, Phoenix led for 92% of the game.

Game flow: Clippers vs Suns by quarter

First quarter (PHX 29-18). LA started well enough. Derrick Jones Jr. hit a 24-foot three off a Garland feed, Rui Hachimura made two threes (one a four-point play) and LA led 11-8 at 6:18, its largest lead of the night (3). Garland's 25-foot step-back made it 18-16 at 3:20. Then the Clippers did not score again in the quarter. Goodwin's 24-foot three (Devin Booker assist) started a 13-0 Phoenix run: a Ryan Dunn layup, back-to-back Collin Gillespie threes from 28 and 25 feet (both assisted by Khaman Maluach), and a Booker pull-up with 2.1 seconds left. LA committed four turnovers in the quarter.

Second quarter (PHX 35-29, PHX 64-47 at half). LA's bench answered first: Max Strus scored inside and Isaiah Jackson had a driving layup and a running dunk to cut it to 31-24 at 9:57. Goodwin then took over. He hit four threes in 2 minutes, 29 seconds (9:44 to 7:15), including one right after his own steal of Kobe Sanders, and Phoenix pushed the lead to 48-31 on Luke Kennard's 26-footer at 6:43. Garland set up three straight rim finishes (Brook Lopez layup, Hachimura dunk, Jones layup) and hit a technical free throw after a Booker technical for a 7-0 run that cut it to 51-41 at 3:37. Phoenix closed the half on a 9-0 run after Lopez's 30-foot three made it 55-47: a Jalen Green three, a Booker free throw after a Garland turnover, a Maluach basket and Gillespie's 38-footer at the horn.

Third quarter (PHX 35-25, PHX 99-72 after three). This was the knockout. After Jones' free throw made it 64-50 at 10:47, the Suns went 22-6 over the next 4:47, hitting six threes: Miles Bridges twice, Booker twice and Green twice (two step-backs). Booker's 24-foot step-back made it 86-56 at 6:00. Garland committed three turnovers in the quarter, and Dillon Brooks' jumper at 4:04 made it 91-59, Phoenix's first 32-point lead. Strus hit two threes late in the quarter, and Goodwin's 27-footer at 20.2 made it 99-69 before Wagler's three-point play left it at 27 entering the fourth.

Fourth quarter (LAC 38-34). Both benches played most of the period. Baba Miller scored all 13 of his points in the quarter, and LA got within 22 (106-84) on Keaton Wagler's 27-foot three at 9:27. Phoenix's reserves answered with threes from Rasheer Fleming, Kennard and Gillespie, and Jamaree Bouyea's basket at 3:52 restored the 32-point margin (127-95). LA closed on a 15-6 run against the end of the Suns' bench.

Team analysis: shooting, rebounding, turnovers, efficiency

Three-point shooting. Suns 22-of-43 (51%), Clippers 15-of-44 (34%). The split by unit tells the story. Phoenix's bench went 15-of-25 from three (Goodwin 6-of-7, Gillespie 4-of-9, Kennard 3-of-5, Fleming and Ryan Dunn 1 each); LA's bench went 7-of-25. Phoenix's starters were 7-of-18 and LA's were 8-of-19, nearly identical. That 45-21 bench gap from deep accounts for the bench scoring margin (81-62) and then some.

Overall shooting. Suns 49-of-88 (56%), Clippers 38-of-90 (42%). Inside the arc Phoenix shot 27-of-45 (60%) and LA 23-of-46 (50%). Phoenix assisted on 32 of its 49 baskets; LA assisted on 28 of 38.

Rebounding. Suns 49, Clippers 37. Offensive rebounds were nearly even (LA 10, Phoenix 9), so the gap came on the defensive glass, where Phoenix collected 40 rebounds to LA's 27. LA missed 52 field goals and grabbed 10 offensive boards, so second chances never became the extra offense the Clippers needed without Bradley Beal and Brandon Ingram. Oso Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn each had 8 rebounds and Maluach had 7; Garland and Hachimura led LA with 5 each.

Turnovers. This was LA's win column. The Clippers had 13 total turnovers (12 player) and forced 20 (19 player), with 10 steals to Phoenix's 4. Points off turnovers favored LA 25-23. The problem is the 23: Phoenix converted LA's 13 giveaways at a much higher rate, including Goodwin's steal-and-three in the second quarter and Booker's free throw off a Garland turnover during the 9-0 run to end the half.

Paint, free throws and transition. Points in the paint 44-44. LA won fast-break points 16-10 and outscored Phoenix by 6 at the line. Phoenix was whistled for three technical fouls (Booker, Ryan Dunn and a Maluach defensive three-seconds), and LA made all three technical free throws.

Efficiency. Using the standard possession estimate (FGA minus offensive rebounds plus turnovers plus 0.44 times FTA), LA had about 104 possessions and Phoenix about 108. That puts Phoenix near 123 points per 100 possessions and LA near 105. These are CNI estimates from the ESPN box score, not official figures.

Player breakdowns

Jordan Goodwin (PHX): 18 points on 6-of-7, all six makes from three, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, +11 in 14 minutes. Off the injury report this week, Goodwin started the 13-0 run that ended the first quarter and then hit four threes in under two and a half minutes of the second. Our preview flagged him as another ball-hawking guard; the threes were the bigger problem.

Devin Booker and Collin Gillespie (PHX): 17 points and 12 points with 8 assists. Booker went 6-of-14 (2-of-6 from three) with 5 assists, 4 turnovers and a team-best +20 in 29 minutes. LA held him under 25 points, as our keys asked, but he still hit two step-back threes in the third-quarter avalanche and assisted on threes by Goodwin, Bridges, Kennard and Gillespie. Gillespie went 4-of-9 from three, including three from 25 feet or deeper in the first half, with a game-high 8 assists off the bench.

Darius Garland (LAC): 13 points on 5-of-12, 1-of-6 from three, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, -21 in 25 minutes. Two nights after 24 and 10 with 2 turnovers against New Orleans, Garland's best stretch was the second-quarter 7-0 run, when he set up three straight rim finishes. Three of his turnovers came in the third quarter, when Phoenix stretched a 14-point lead to 32.

Rui Hachimura and Baba Miller (LAC): 13 points each. Hachimura made 3-of-5 from three with 2 steals, the only Clippers starter to hit more than two threes. Miller went 4-of-4 from the field and 4-of-6 at the line for 13 points in 16 minutes, all in the fourth quarter, and finished +9, one of only two Clippers with a positive plus-minus (Jalen Pickett, +5). It came in garbage time, but it was the second straight game in which Miller's activity stood out off the bench.

How did the CNI prediction hold up?

Our Keys to the Match pick was Clippers 114, Suns 111. It missed on the winner and by 26 points on the margin. The contingency flip (Suns 116, Clippers 109 if LA committed 18 or more turnovers or lost the rebounding battle) was triggered by the rebounding loss and had the right winner, but Phoenix scored 17 more points than that projection.

Key 1, win the glass: missed badly. Success was 13 or more LA offensive rebounds and a plus-6 edge; LA had 10 offensive rebounds and lost the boards by 12. This was the lever the whole pick rested on, and the league's worst rebounding team won it.

Key 2, protect the ball: split. LA met the turnover target (13 total, 12 player, against a 14-or-fewer goal) but did not hold Phoenix under 15 points off them (23).

Key 3, make Booker win from three: hit on paper. Booker scored 17 on 14 shots. It did not matter, because Phoenix's bench made 15 threes.

Key 4, paint defense: hit. Phoenix scored 44 in the paint, under the 46 target and well under the 54.7 LA had been allowing.

Key 5, three-point volume: half. LA took 44 threes (target 38-plus) but made 34% (target 37%). Phoenix, the team on the back-to-back, was the one that shot well from deep.

The honest read: we identified the right battlegrounds, and Phoenix won the two that mattered most. Two of five keys were hit, two were split and one was missed, and the missed one was the headline.

What's next for the Clippers?

The Clippers (2-8) return home to host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. PT (10:30 p.m. ET) at Intuit Dome. Phoenix leads the season series 1-0, and the teams meet again in Phoenix on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The takeaway to carry in: LA's ball security held for a second straight game (13 turnovers after 11 against New Orleans), but a 20% offensive rebounding rate and a 7-of-25 night from the bench's threes left no margin against an opponent that got hot.

Sources

christopher martinez
Next

Clippers at Suns Keys to the Match: Glass, Turnovers, Booker