Clippers Are Defenseless Against Johnson, Suns

Kevin Johnson was trapped, hemmed in Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The going was tough.

But that was after the game, Johnson finding fans and autograph seekers at every turn as he tried to go to the parking lot. Against the Clippers, he went most anywhere he wanted without hindrance. Often that was down the middle of the defense, en route to 38 points and 11 assists in leading the Phoenix Suns to a 130-112 victory before 14,496.

It was the second-highest total the Clippers have allowed this season, by a team and an individual. Clyde Drexler had 39 points and the Trail Blazers beat the Clippers, 132-112, Nov. 19 at Portland.

That the Clippers have done worse was of little consolation to Coach Larry Brown. A night after they gave up 123 points in a home loss to Portland, the coach who came in seven games ago stressing defense and hustle was repetitive in his analysis.

People are driving inside too easily on the Clippers.

People are posting up too easily on the Clippers.

People are hurting the Clippers with rebounding.

Phoenix scored 56 of its points from in close, compared to 34 for the Clippers, and shot 56.4%, largely because the Suns got so many easy shots inside. Johnson, a 6-foot-2 point guard, slipped through the initial coverage by the guards and then the interior defense with Stealth-like ease.

“You’ve got to understand, Kevin Johnson gets by everybody,” Brown said. “But we have got to be more consistent. We gamble too much, and not only the guards. We had three fouls with the shot clock under three (seconds).”

Said Clipper forward Loy Vaught: “It’s frustrating both for the little guys and the big men. It is a handful guarding Kevin Johnson all night; he’s bound to burn you eventually. But it’s frustrating that he gets to the guts of the defense so easily.”

Johnson has been on a hot streak, but Phoenix had lost three in a row and five of six coming in since the all-star break.

Before Tuesday’s game at Portland, coaches urged Johnson to attack more, to pick up the pace on offense, and he responded with 40 points on 17-of-24 shooting against the Trail Blazers. The next game, Friday at Golden State, he had 32 points and 13 assists.

Back home against the Clippers, he had 11 points in the first quarter and 17 by halftime. Johnson capped the night with 13 in the fourth quarter.

“We had a tough week out there on the road,” Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “We needed a game like this--a good effort by us--because the Clippers are playing well. And they played well here tonight, but our guys stepped up and did the job.”

The Clippers were behind by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, 91-74, and then loaded up for another comeback. Not-too-distant memories of rallies from 15 points behind against Portland and San Antonio and 14 against the Suns at the Sports Arena crept up in the fourth.

But after cutting the deficit to six, the last time at 101-95 with 7:58 left, they got no closer. The Suns quickly pushed their cushion back to double digits, reaching 20 at 128-108 with 3:66 left.

Clipper Notes

Ken Norman was four for eight from the free-throw line Friday against Portland, but he will remember his showing for a long time. It was the night Coach Larry Brown told his team’s worst free thrower to shoot the illegal-defense technical called against the Trail Blazers in the fourth quarter of a close game, choosing motivation and a showing of confidence over logic. “I’ve got a big heart,” Norman said before Saturday’s game. “But I don’t have a big enough heart to go up to the line in a close game and shoot a technical on my own. He (Brown) told me to. I couldn’t believe it. I thought he was talking to someone standing next to me. I cannot explain how good that made me feel.” Norman, who began Saturday at 54.3%, paid his coach back by swishing the shot. . . . Charles Smith missed his seventh consecutive game because of swelling and weakness in his right knee, but took another step toward returning to the lineup by walking 40 minutes in the sand and swimming. He could be ready for the four-game East Coast swing that begins March 1.