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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLOS ANGELES (AP) This time, Paul George didn’t flinch. Playoff P showed up and dragged the Los Angeles Clippers back from the brink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George scored 27 points and the Clippers pulled away in a dominant third quarter, beating newly returned Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns 106-92 on Thursday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbWe continue to chip away, try to find ways we can be better and impose our will on opponents,\u00bb Clippers guard Reggie Jackson said. \u00bbWe showed a lot of heart, a lot of fight.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Clippers cut their series deficit to 2-1, ending the Suns’ franchise-record playoff winning streak at nine games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbOur guys keep grinding, keep fighting,\u00bb Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. \u00bbWe never give in.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kawhi Leonard remained out with a right knee sprain, leaving George to carry the load again. After missing two crucial free throws in a one-point loss in Game 2, George had 15 rebounds and eight assists and played a game-high 43 minutes. He made 6 of 7 free throws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbI knew I had to be better,\u00bb George said. \u00bbAll my energy was directed toward a better game.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Suns got Paul back after he missed the first two games while being sidelined since June 16 because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. The former Clipper, who was booed heartily during intros, had 15 points and 12 assists, but was 5 of 19 from the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbI have to get better. I shot terrible,\u00bb Paul said. \u00bbYou could tell they had a lot more energy. I got to pick up the pace.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cameron Payne, who so ably filled in for Paul in the first two games, went down with a left ankle injury after playing four minutes and didn’t return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbWe missed him a lot,\u00bb Suns guard Devin Booker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suns coach Monty Williams said he played Paul too much in his first game back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00bbProbably got tired,\u00bb Williams said, \u00bbbut it hurt us when Cam couldn’t come back so I left Chris out there for a longer stretch and that’s on me.\u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deandre Ayton led the Suns with 18 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson added 23 points for the Clippers, and Ivica Zubac had 15 points and tied his career playoff high with 16 rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Game 4 is Saturday night at Staples Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nba.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS \u00c1NGELES (AP) Esta vez, Paul George no se inmut\u00f3. Playoff P apareci\u00f3 y arrastr\u00f3 a Los Angeles Clippers hacia atr\u00e1s desde el abismo. George anot\u00f3 27 puntos y los Clippers se alejaron en un tercer cuarto dominante, venciendo al reci\u00e9n regresado Chris Paul y los Phoenix Suns 106-92 el jueves por la noche en […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110707,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110705\/revisions\/110707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportseco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}