The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, looking to extend their win streak to three and win their fourth game this season against their division rivals.
Even though this is their fourth matchup, this marked the first time that all five stars in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal played. Ultimately, it was the Suns that came out on top in dominant fashion with a 127-109 victory.
The Suns got off to a quick start with back-to-back triples although the Lakers then responded with seven straight to take their first lead.
Phoenix was red-hot early though as Booker then made a triple and Beal made two in a row to take a 17-9 lead. After a timeout though, the Lakers responded nicely with five quick points.
Taurean Prince had eight early points for L.A. although the offense otherwise struggled, allowing the Suns to stay out in front, even building a double-digit advantage as Booker had it going.
Austin Reaves finally got going late in the quarter with a corner 3-pointer, but the Lakers still trailing 36-25 at the end of the first.
The Lakers started to get going offensively to begin the second with D’Angelo Russell completing a three-point play and Jarred Vanderbilt hitting a corner 3 to get the deficit back to six.
With Christian Wood out though, Jaxson Hayes got backup center minutes for L.A. and really struggled with four fouls in four minutes, allowing the Suns to again take control.
The Lakers were slugging for most of the second quarter with even James and Davis struggling to get much going offensively while Booker stayed hot. After Durant beat the buzzer, the Suns went into the halftime locker room leading 66-52.
James tried to get the Lakers going with a three-point play to begin the third although the Suns stayed hot from deep, continuing to grow their lead.
There were blowouts all across the league on Thursday and this one was no different. Booker, Beal and Durant looked like the big three the Suns imagined when they got them, and the Lakers couldn’t buy an outside shot.
The Suns extended their lead to 30 midway through the third quarter and continued to pour it on from there, putting the game out of reach early. The Lakers reserves played hard in the fourth quarter, but Darvin Ham pulled his staters early and called it a night.
Up next for the Lakers
Although they are at home for most of January, the Lakers’ next game will be on the road on Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.
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