Suns Give Clippers a Reason to Forget

The only suspense in the fourth quarter of the Phoenix Suns’ 134-105 rout of the Clippers was whether any records would fall.

Reserves finished up, and only one was set--Eric Piatkowski made seven three-point baskets, a Clipper franchise high.

The Suns were happy just to have everyone get some action. Nine of 10 players who suited up Monday night scored in double figures against the NBA’s worst defense.

“When you’re not getting a lot of minutes, you want to come out and get off to a quick start, and that’s what I did tonight,” said George McCloud, who had 18 of his season-high 21 points in the second quarter.

Kevin Johnson had 19 points as Phoenix matched last season’s victory total (40) with 21 games left.

The Suns played without starting forward Antonio McDyess (suspended for fighting) and guard Rex Chapman (sore foot).

Piatkowski scored 23 points in 25 minutes for the Clippers, missing only one three-point shot and making eight of 11 shots overall.

“I just let a couple go,” said Piatkowski, who broke a record of six three-pointers shared by four others. “They were deep, and they probably weren’t the best shots, but they went down. I was in a little bit of a zone. It felt good, but when you’re down 20, it doesn’t feel so good.”

Isaac Austin had 21 points, and Lamond Murray scored 20.

Sun Coach Danny Ainge said the breakout was welcome after a stretch when the Suns lost five of their previous seven.

“Bad shooting is contagious and good shooting is contagious,” Ainge said. “Bad defense is contagious and good defense is contagious. We got a lot of turnovers and we reacted. We gave them a lot of easy baskets with our overaggressive defense, but we also got a lot of huge baskets.”

Steve Nash had all 14 of his points in the same period, when the Suns shot 77% (17 for 22) and scored 42 points to take a 74-51 halftime lead. They led, 112-80, starting the fourth quarter.

“It wasn’t really a game. After the first 20 minutes, the Suns basically had it their own way,” Fitch said.