Ayton soars for last second alley-oop, Suns beat Clippers

PHOENIX — 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 night 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 L.A.’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 night. 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.