It feels like forever ago when the LA Clippers lost that gut-wrenching, hard-fought battle against the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals.
It’s been a long offseason, but here we are in training camp.
That series has to be fresh on the players’ minds, however, as I’m sure it left a bad taste in their mouth. They can get sweet revenge on Phoenix this year, however. The road to achieving that starts in training camp.
No. 3 way the LA Clippers can get revenge on Phoenix Suns: Control the boards
There was only one game in the Western Conference Finals where the LA Clippers out-rebounded the Suns.
It was Game 3, a game in which they won. They were out-rebounded in the series 272-252.
The Clippers are going to have to play the Suns many times this season due to them being in the same division. If they can control the boards in those games, they’ll have much more success containing Deandre Ayton.
Ayton had a great series, but won’t be able to get as many looks inside if we’re swiping boards from him. When both Serge Ibaka and Ivica Zubac were done for the series in the Western Conference Finals, we had a tough time having the physical presence we needed in the rebounding game.
Those two are our best rebounders. Ayton is going to continue to be a tough matchup. Next year, we need somebody to step up if we face adversity like that.