Emerging Ayton has Suns one win from NBA Finals

PHOENIX — Deandre Ayton is rapidly become the player the Phoenix Suns imagined when the pingpong balls bounced their way for the 2018 NBA draft.

The third-year center was in top form Saturday in a hard-fought 8480 Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. He scored 19 points, grabbed a playoff career-high 22 rebounds, blocked four shots, and was generally the only person on the floor who could put the ball in the basket with any kind of consistency.

Now the Suns have a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals and are one win from a trip to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993. Game 5 is on Monday in Phoenix. “I thought Deandre’s presence, his effort, the rebounding, shot blocking, his communication on defense, switching out on smaller guys and being able to guard them, he was the catalyst on the defensive end,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “I thought it was an unreal performance from him. Our guys rallied around him.”

Williams added of Ayton: “Every possession he’s playing like his life depends on it.”

There have certainly been some growing pains for the No. 1 overall pick out of Arizona. His rookie year was decent, though his effort on the defensive end was sometimes inconsistent. His second year was marred by a 25-game suspension for violating the league’s Anti-drug policy after testing positive for a diuretic.

It was easy to wonder if the Suns had made the right choice.

Now there’s not much concern. The 22-year-old has already had one of the iconic moments in Suns playoff basketball history when he dunked an alley-oop pass from Jae Crowder with 0.7 second left to win Game 2 last week.

It was another example of Ayton’s newfound confidence and tenacity.

“I learned I could keep going,” Ayton said. “There’s another level — I learned that. I think I reached the next level that I really need to be at, at this level when it comes to competing.”

No Kawhi

There’s little doubt that the Clippers have missed the presence of Kawhi Leonard. The All-star forward has missed six straight games due to a sprained right knee.

He’ll miss a seventh straight game on Monday.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said Leonard would remain in Los Angeles while Game 5 is played in Phoenix. Lue hasn’t given much clue as to when — or if — Leonard might return during the postseason.