The Suns Beat The Clippers On A Lob Play They Ran 3 Years Ago

The Phoenix Suns have put the Clippers in a familiar spot down 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals — the third straight series L.A. has lost the first two games — but needed a near miraculous finish in order to make that happen.

The Suns turned the ball over down one with under 10 seconds to play on everyone’s least favorite situation, the slow-motion review of a strip that, because of how physics work, technically touches the offensive player last as it leaves their hand. From there, Paul George got sent to the free throw line to try and put the Clippers up by three, but missed both free throws to give the Suns a full playbook to open up for a game-winner.

The first attempt was a clean corner three look for Mikal Bridges that went begging, but was tipped out of bounds by L.A. with 0.9 seconds to play on the baseline. As that review, requested by Terance Mann and the Clippers was ongoing, Monty Williams drew up an absolute beauty, having Jae Crowder toss a lob to Deandre Ayton, who was sprung free of Ivica Zubac by a Devin Booker screen.

It was a gorgeous play and one that Suns fans are quite familiar with, as they pulled off the same play in a game-winning situation with under a second on the clock three years ago with Tyson Chandler playing the role of Ayton.

Tyson Chandler noted immediately that the play certainly looked familiar.

While it’s been in the Suns rotation before, that was obviously with a different coach (Jay Triano) and for Monty Williams, he took his inspiration for the play from his old boss in Philadelphia, Brett Brown.

The secret to the play is that there can’t be goaltending or basket interference on an inbounds pass because the ball isn’t live when it leaves the inbounder’s hands, only when it touches someone on the court. As such, it’s not a shot that they are interfering with and can be tipped in or dunked without fear of it being over the cylinder.

It is a play rarely gone to by coaches because it requires so many moving parts to work perfectly, and there isn’t a Plan B should something go wrong. The pass has to be perfect, the screen has to be strong enough from a small on a big to create separation for your center, and then your big man has to be able to catch and finish under pressure. That’s a dangerous proposition, but the Suns executed it to perfection once again, taking advantage of the rulebook and getting exactly what they needed from Crowder, Booker, and Ayton to get a win and move two games away from the NBA Finals.