Lakers don’t overcome early struggles in loss to Suns
PHOENIX — The Lakers got close to overcoming their early struggles, but didn’t put together the necessary finishing touches Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, falling to their fellow Western Conference foes 123-113 at Footprint Center in a matchup that had significant implications in the standings and playoff race.
LeBron James (28 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds, two steals, one block), Anthony Davis (22 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, two blocks) and D’Angelo Russell (20 points, seven assists) all had moments that helped the Lakers (31-28) overcome their slow start.
But the Suns’ timely shotmaking prevented the Lakers from leaving Phoenix with a win, putting the Lakers at 1-2 since the All-Star break.
“Super slow start for us, offensively and defensively,” James said. “You give a team 45 points in a quarter, that’s always going to be a problem. Especially if you aren’t scoring 45 as well.”
The Lakers fell behind by a significant margin because of self-inflicted errors: committing turnovers and failing to finish defensive possessions with rebounds.
They committed five first-quarter turnovers for 11 Suns points. Those giveaways plus the Suns dominating the offensive glass (six offensive rebounds for seven second-chance points) contributed to an early 20-point deficit (38-18) and a 17-point (45-27) Phoenix lead at the end of the first.
“You can’t give up 45-point quarters,” coach Darvin Ham said. “You’re gonna be playing behind the eight ball the entire rest of the way if you don’t get in turn get hot or get stops.”
The Lakers took better care of the ball and cleaned up their defensive rebounding going forward, helping them win the middle two quarters 62-50 – taking a 72-63 deficit into halftime and a 95-90 deficit going into the fourth.
They cut the Suns’ lead to just two points multiple times late in the third, but the Suns’ shotmaking from their role players prevented the Lakers from getting any closer – especially in the game’s critical moments late in the fourth.
Coming out of a Lakers timeout with the Suns leading 110-104 with 3:55 remaining, Royce O’Neale (20 points on six 3s to go with 10 rebounds) and Grayson Allen (team-high 24 points) made back-to-back 3s to give the Suns a 12-point lead with three minutes left.
After a James missed layup 1½ minutes later, O’Neale knocked down another 3 in transition, putting the Suns up 121-108 with 1:24 left. O’Neale was making his first start with the Suns, in place of the injured Bradley Beal (left hamstring injury management), since Phoenix acquired him from the Brooklyn Nets ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline.
O’Neale and Allen combined for 12 of the Suns’ 17 3s.
“It’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes,” Ham said. “We got great looks. The coaching staff and I were just talking about that. We had guys that had some good looks. And at times I felt like we held the ball a little bit too much. Didn’t play with enough pace in the halfcourt, but all that said you just got to go back to the drawing board, look at the film, see where you can get better, and keep working. Keep chipping at the rock.”
Devin Booker (21 points, nine assists) sealed the Suns’ victory with a pull-up jumper 30 seconds later. Ham called timeout and both teams took their rotation players out with 53 seconds left.
Jusuf Nurkic had an 18-point, 22-rebound double-double for the Suns, with seven of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass.
“I’m trying to do my job of pushing Nurkic out,” Davis said. “And the ball, long bounce, it goes over the head, obviously, he’ll have position on the outside. Our guards and forwards have to come back and get those rebounds for us. He had some on me that was in the paint that I’ve gotta do a better job of. But he’s a big body, so it’s tough to defensive rebound just one-on-one. Some other guys had some, but we’ve just gotta do a better job of that, which we have. But [Sunday] they got them, and most of them, or a couple of them were kick-out 3s, which kinda hurt us. But he’s a big body. That’s his role on the team: go out and rebound, get them extra possessions. They did a good job with it.”
Suns star Kevin Durant didn’t score with his typical efficiency, finishing with 22 points on 7 for 20 shooting to go with seven assists and five rebounds.
Sunday’s result moved the Suns (34-24) 3½ games ahead of the Lakers in the standings with 23 regular-season games left. The Lakers have the tiebreaker over the Suns for the playoffs/play-in tournament, winning the regular-season series 3-2.