HOENIX: Deandre Ayton jammed an alley-oop pass from Jae Crowder with 0.7 seconds left, giving the Phoenix Suns a thrilling 104-103 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) in Game 2 of the Western

CONFERENCE fiNALS.

The Suns were down one with 0.9 seconds left when Crowder lofted a high pass on an out-of-bounds play on the baseline. A soaring Ayton came down the lane and stuffed it through the net over LA’s Ivica Zubac as the crowd roared in disbelief at Phoenix Suns Arena.

The referees spent about a minute reviewing the play before ruling the basket was good. The Clippers couldn’t get a shot off in the final 0.7 seconds.

The Suns now have a 2-0 lead in the series heading to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday (Friday in Manila). The Clippers will be fighting from a 2-0 deficit for the third time in these playoffs after

rallying to beat the Mavericks and Jazz in the first two rounds.

The Crowder-to-Ayton connection negated a Clippers rally that was led by Paul George, who had 26 points.

George made a layup with 31 seconds left to give the Clippers a 101-100 lead for their first advantage since early in the third quarter. Suns guard Devin Booker responded with a jumper of his own with 27 seconds left.

George calmly took the ball on the next possession and drilled a long two-pointer for a 103-102 lead.

But there was a lot more action left.

George missed two free throws with 8.2 seconds remaining and the Suns had a chance to win, but it looked as if it wouldn’t happen when Mikal Bridges missed a corner 3-pointer and the ball was deflected out of bounds.

Instead, it set up Crowder’s heave to Ayton, who was dominant in the paint all night.

The Suns have won nine straight in the playoffs, which is a franchise record.

The Suns were led by Cameron Payne, who was brilliant while subbing for All-Star Chris Paul. He finished with a career-high 29 points. Ayton had 22 points and 14 rebounds, while Booker added 20 points.

The Suns were playing without Paul for the second straight game. The 11-time All-Star has been in the league’s Covid-19 health and safety protocol for the past week and the team isn’t sure when he’ll return.

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard missed his fourth straight game with a right knee sprain, and he stayed in Los Angeles to get treatment on the injury.

There’s more than a berth in the NBA Finals at stake when the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks square off for the Eastern Conference championship.

The winner of the series that starts Wednesday (Thursday) also will end decades of frustration.

Milwaukee won its lone NBA title in 1971 and last reached the Finals in 1974. The Hawks won their only championship in 1958 and lost in the Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961 — and that’s when they were still playing in St. Louis.

The Bucks got here by sweeping the Miami Heat and surviving a seven-game series with the secondseeded Brooklyn Nets. Atlanta beat the New York Knicks in five games and knocked off the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven.

Both the Bucks and Hawks ended their second-round series by earning their first Game 7 road victories ever.