The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night in the second of their two preseason games at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert. The Lakers will play a total of six preseason games.
This one marked the debuts of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, giving the Lakers their full starting lineup for the first time. The Suns also had their full lineup available outside of center Jusuf Nurkic, who is dealing with a thumb injury.
While the Lakers regulars got out to a nice lead in their minutes, the young guys at the end of the bench ultimately couldn’t close it out as the Suns came away with a 118-114 win.
Davis got off to a quick start as he caught a lob from Austin Reaves and then connected on a 3-pointer. Davis then found D’Angelo Russell for a layup to give the Lakers an early 11-7 lead.
Reaves was bringing out the sauce with a nice dish to Max Christie for a dunk and then a three-point play of his own. James then got going down hill to end a great first quarter for the Lakers as they led the Suns 34-25.
To start the second quarter, LeBron and his son Bronny James made history as the first father-son duo to share the floor together in an NBA game. Bronny played for four minutes and didn’t score before Lakers coach JJ Redick went back to his normal rotation players.
LeBron stayed hot to close the half though with a pair of triples and lob to Davis. James had 19 at the break while Davis had 17 and Russell had 12, giving the Lakers a 69-57 lead.
As was expected, the stars for both teams were done after the first half with Christie and Jaxson Hayes starting in place of James and Davis.
Reaves and Russell were running the show for the Lakers for a majority of the third quarter, keeping the lead around double digits. Cam Reddish got his first run of the preseason in the third quarter after dealing with some ankle soreness, drilling a 3-pointer in four minutes of action.
The Suns started chipping away against the Lakers reserves to end the third, but Gabe Vincent banked in a 3 at the buzzer to put L.A. up 92-85.
With reserves, two-way players and G Leaguers finishing out the game for both teams, the Lakers squandered their lead going into the final minutes.
Christie was still in there for the Lakers though and his back-to-back 3s to put himself in double figures. The Suns reserves closed better than the Lakers’ though, securing the victory for Phoenix.
What’s next for Lakers
The Lakers will now head out on the road, taking on the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night and then the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday with the second game coming in Las Vegas.
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