The Clippers did not have an answer for DeAndre Ayton inside

One of the advantages the Suns had in Game 1 was that they had DeAndre Ayton abusing the Clippers in the paint. The 22-year-old center stepped up for the Suns, much like he has all playoffs long, playing 37 minutes and he scored 20 points on 10-14 shooting inside the paint! 

Since their first series against the Mavericks, the Clippers have been playing with a “small-ball” lineup with either Nic Batum or Marcus Morris Sr. as their “center” but against a team with an athletic, scoring center like DeAndre Ayton, Los Angeles may have to make some adjustments to their rotations in this series. 

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“Small-ball” against a guy like DeAndre Ayton is not going to work, especially when he is converting opportunity after opportunity in the paint with ease. Ivica Zubac struggled to contain DeAndre Ayton in his limited minutes in Game 1 off-the-bench, but DeMarcus Cousins actually looked good. 

Cousins had not played since Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz, yet he played 13 minutes off-the-bench in Game 1 of this series against the Suns, playing physical, strong defense on DeAndre Ayton and also getting things done on offense. “Boogie” scored 11 points, had 4 rebounds and recorded a block in 13 minutes, but he also had 5 personal fouls, which was his only weakness. 

The Clippers are going to have to do something to be stronger defensively in the paint, especially since DeAndre Ayton destroyed them on the inside offensively, which is why Cousins could earn more minutes off-the-bench as this series goes on, especially with Serge Ibaka out for the season after having back surgery.