After losing both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injury, the Los Angeles Lakers struggled to find their footing, dropping three straight games.
They are seemingly re-finding their form just before the start of the playoffs, however, picking up back-to-back wins in a 24-hour span. They first went on the road and beat the Golden State Warriors, and then they returned home to host the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
While the Suns were resting a number of key players, the Lakers still needed to go out and take care of business and that’s exactly what they did. L.A. played its best defensive game of the season, earning an easy 101-73 victory over Phoenix. The Suns scored just 25 points in the second half and nine points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers were playing a physical brand of basketball all night.
The Lakers’ win, coupled with a loss by the Houston Rockets to the Minnesota Timberwolves, secured a top-4 seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs for JJ Redick’s team. Given all of the adversity they have faced this season in the form of injuries, that is a tremendous accomplishment for the Lakers.
As has been the case since Doncic and Reaves went down, LeBron James was exceptional leading the way for the Lakers. In 32 minutes of action, he led all scorers with 28 points to go along with six rebounds, 12 assists and four steals on 10-of-16 shooting.
James has been playing his best basketball of the season in recent weeks and looks ready to lead the Lakers into the postseason in the absence of his two co-stars.
Luke Kennard has also stepped up his game, taking on a playmaking role since the team’s top two ball-handlers went down. He had another stellar performance of his own against the Suns with 19 points, three assists and three steals.
As a team, the Lakers shot 40% from beyond the arc (8-of-20) and two of those were made by Rui Hachimura, who contributed 13 points, two rebounds and three assists.
Marcus Smart also made his return to the lineup after missing the last nine games and in 18 minutes off the bench, he had six points, five rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block. He made a number of hustle plays for his team, which was sorely missed over the last couple of weeks.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will close out the regular season on Sunday evening against the Utah Jazz before getting nearly a week off to prepare for their first-round playoff matchup.
If the Lakers win and the Denver Nuggets lose to the San Antonio Spurs then L.A. could jump from the fourth to the third seed in the West.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
