Paul Coro

SUNS (12-9) at CLIPPERS (14-5) … 8:30 p.m. tip-off (Phoenix time)

C: Miles Plumlee … DeAndre Jordan

PF: Markieff Morris … Blake Griffin

SF: P.J. Tucker … Matt Barnes

SG: Goran Dragic … J.J. Redick

PG: Eric Bledsoe … Chris Paul

Key Clippers reserves: Spencer Hawes, Jamal Crawford, Glen Davis, Hedo Turkoglu, C.J. Wilcox.

Key Clippers injuries: Jordan Farmar (back spasms) and Reggie Bullock (right ankle sprain) are out. Chris Douglas-Roberts (right Achilles strain) is doubtful.

Onto the Orange Slices …

* Suns point guard Isaiah Thomas said his injured right ankle is improving but he will miss his seventh consecutive game tonight against the Clippers due to when he turned it and bruised it while landing on a 3-point shot on Nov. 24 at Toronto.

The Suns have gone 3-3 in his absence.

"I'm not just going to be out there to be out there," Thomas said. "I want to come back and be effective. Right now, I definitely wouldn't be effective. It's definitely felt the best that it has today."

Since Thomas went out, the starting backcourt's playing time has jumped. Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic are averaging 35.8 and 35.7 minutes in those six games, respectively.

* Bledsoe plays before his old Clippers fans as a Sun for the third time tonight.

His first two did not go well for different reasons. When he faced his former team for the first time, Bledsoe injured his knee and missed the next 33 games.

When he went back this season, former mentor Chris Paul had a 32-point, nine-assist game against him and Bledsoe did not make a shot in a Suns loss. Bledsoe has played three Suns games against the Clippers, winning the first and losing the latter two when Paul averaged 26 points and nine assists and made nine of 13 3-pointers.

* Paul's assist-to-turnover margin of 6.45 to one would the best single-season ratio since the NBA started keeping turnovers as a statistic in 1977.

In the Clippers' 120-100 win Saturday against New Orleans, Paul recorded 18 points and 16 assists in 30 minutes with only two turnovers.

The Clippers made 17 3-pointers in that game to tie for the second most in franchise history.

* In that last meeting with the Clippers on Nov. 15, the Suns played a strong first half to be tied at halftime. Bledsoe was scoreless but distributing well and the Suns had their pace but they were outscored 32-10 at the start of the second half. The defense had individual breakdowns and Markieff Morris picked up a fourth foul, leaving an undersized team against Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. Jordan had 12 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks.

"You can't have any lulls against a team like this, especially in their gym," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

The Suns made a fourth-quarter rally but it was futile, much like Saturday's comeback try at Houston.

In the last nine games against Phoenix, the Clippers have gone 7-2 and shot 49 percent from the field with 40 percent 3-point shooting. The Clippers have gone 4-0 in 2014 against Phoenix.

"The big key is not let them get both 3-pointers and layups and dunks," Hornacek said. "We've got to slow DeAndre Jordan from getting to the lobs. We've also got to not allow those 3-poitners. They're a great team. They make almost 12 3-pointers a game when they win. Like any other team, if you can hold them to seven or eight, you've got a chance."

* The Clippers have won seven games in a row with an average victory margin of 19.1 points.

They have moved into first place in the NBA for field goal shooting (48.6 percent) and 3-point shooting (39.1) percent. Despite scoring 106.4 points per game, the Clippers' percentage of their points that come in the paint is lowest in the league (33.5 percent).

The Clippers get 35.7 points per game in the paint but the Suns allow 46.0 points in the paint per game, ranking fourth worst.

"Chris is very good with the mid-range shots," Hornacek said. "Blake is making the mid-range jumpers. Those shots probably go against analytics a little bit but those guys make a high percentage of them. They're tough to deal with. When they really need it, they get to the free throw line a lot so we have to keep them off the free throw line."

* The Suns defense has held the past three opponents to second-half shooting percentages of 32.4, 35.6 and 36.6.

"The offense has been a little better in the second half where we really go after it and move it and put the other team on the defense a little bit," Hornacek said. "Who knows what comes first? It's a chicken-or-egg thing. You're playing from behind so there's a little more desperation."

* Suns power forward Markieff Morris' 2-for-14 shooting game Saturday at Houston was his career worst for a game in which he took at least 10 shots. He scored a season-low four points and fouled out for the second time this season. Breaking his 3-point shooting rut did not start a turnaround. He is still one for his last 18 tries from 3-point range.

* Suns center Miles Plumlee is 12 for 15 from the field in the past four games but he only played 14 minutes Saturday.

* Bledsoe has minimized turnovers of late, making only six in the past three games while scoring 23 per game on 48 percent shooting.

* Gerald Green has scored in double digits off the bench in 10 consecutive games. He is nine of 19 on 3-pointers over the last three games to raise his 3-point percentage to 38.0 for the season.

* Cole Mickelson's Stone Cole Fact o' the Day: The Suns have the same record through 21 games (12-9) as last season.

* The last word goes to Houston's Donatas Motiejunas after Houston outrebounded the Suns 57-40 on Saturday night: "They (the Suns) were going to play physical. At the end, it didn't look like that because we had the advantage on rebounds. They were all over and it was really wrestling over there."

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