The Los Angeles Lakers were coming off a subpar 4-4 homestand when they hit the road to take on the Phoenix Suns, looking to get back on track.
The Suns had beaten the Lakers in two of their three meetings this season, often being the more physical and aggressive team, but a lot of their key players were out in this game. That didn’t matter, however, as the Suns continued to have their way with the Lakers, beating them 113-110 in the final seconds.
Coming off a rough shooting night, Luka Doncic got off to a nice start in this one by making his first two shots. Outside of that though, the Lakers were struggling offensively early with the Suns jumping out to a 17-9 lead.
L.A. had a quick response with a 12-0 run to take their first lead. Doncic had five more points during that span while LeBron James also got going offensively.
Luke Kennard came in and made an immediate impact, including finishing a layup after a slick behind-the-back pass from James, to give the Lakers a 27-22 lead at the end of the first.
Phoenix got hot from deep to begin the second quarter, regaining the lead and forcing a Lakers timeout. Things started to spiral for the Lakers as they had some silly turnovers, leading to back-to-back triples by the Suns to go up by 10.
Again though, the Lakers responded with a run of their own. Jake LaRavia got it started with a 3-pointer and then Doncic and Reaves each hit one as well. The Suns beat the halftime buzzer to end the run, tying the game at 49.
The Lakers picked up where they left off to begin the third quarter, scoring 11 straight points with Doncic and James leading the charge. Doncic found Deandre Ayton for an alley-oop, giving the big man his first bucket of the night and forcing a Suns timeout with L.A.’s lead reaching double digits.
Similar to what happened in the first half, the Lakers let go of the rope from there. They had some more silly turnovers and Grayson Allen made them pay with back-to-back 3s. Allen then hit another one out of a Lakers timeout and the game wound up being tied at 80 at the end of the third.
Ayton committed a costly Flagrant 1 foul on a reckless closeout, allowing the Suns to jump back in front after a six-point possession that started an 11-0 run.
Marcus Smart tried to bring the Lakers back with a triple and three-point play, but there was still a lot more work to be done. Doncic picked it up from three with a pair of 3s of his own, and all of a sudden it was a two-point game.
The Lakers needed to get a stop and got lucky with Allen missing an open triple. Reaves then responded with a 3 and the game was tied with 22 seconds to go.
Phoenix had the ball with the shot clock off, running it all the way down to get the final shot and Royce O’Neale drilled a triple for the win.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will wrap up their quick two-game road trip on Saturday evening against the Golden State Warriors before returning home and hosting the Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
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