This was a very even game with little to no separation

If you enjoy watching high-level basketball in which the game goes back-and-forth, then this Clippers-Suns series is definitely a series you cannot miss! Game 1 was fantastic not just because of the energy inside of Phoenix Suns Arena, but because both teams were so evenly matched. 

The Suns did not have Chris Paul and the Clippers did not have Kawhi Leonard, which meant that key role players for both teams had to step up and they definitely did! Cam Payne and Cam Johnson stepped up for the Suns, as Payne had 11 points and 9 assists in the starting rotation and then Johnson added 12 points of his own on 5-8 shooting off-the-bench. 

READ MORE: NBA Playoffs: Why Phoenix Suns should be favorites to win the 2021 NBA Finals

For the Clippers, Terance Mann did not have another 39-point night like he had in Game 6 against the Jazz on Friday night, but he did bring a ton of energy to this game for L.A. and he ended up with 9 points and 4 rebounds. The guy to step up for them though was Reggie Jackson, who had another fantastic showing scoring 24 points on 10-19 shooting and adding 6 rebounds, 4 assists to his name. 

Throughout the entire first-half of this game, both the Clippers and Suns kept swapping the lead and by the end of this game, there were a total of 20 lead changes and 15 ties. The Clippers’ largest lead of 6 points came late in the third quarter when they went on a little bit of a run and the Suns’ largest lead of 10 points came late in the fourth quarter when they began to pull away from the Clippers. 

If Game 1 told us anything about this series, it is that it is going to be a very fun, exciting and nerve-wracking series for both fan bases! We can expect much of the same moving forward in this series in terms of the back-and-forth play and as a result, this Clippers-Suns series definitely has a chance to be a very long and hard fought series.