playing from behind, lost a crucial game against the Suns on Sunday afternoon, 123-113, following a terrible first quarter.
With a scorching 11–17 shooting percentage in the second half, LeBron came alive to finish with 28 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds. After being completely absent from the game for the first half, Anthony Davis showed up in the last two frames, scoring 22 points, pulling down 14 rebounds, committing three thefts, and blocking two shots.
After making several clutch baskets during the game, D’Angelo Russell finished with 20 points, seven assists, four rebounds, and an 8–14 overall and 4–8 from three point range shooting.
The Lakers were destroyed on both ends by offensive rebounds. Phoenix had 14 in the third quarter, while the Lakers didn’t have any until the third, translating into 22 second-chance points. The Lakers were also frequently harmed by the combination of Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen, who went 12–22 from the 3-point line for Phoenix.
It was about as poor a start as the Lakers have had all season long to kick things off. Reminiscent of their early-season first-quarter struggles, the Lakers traded baskets very early on before watching the Suns shift into a gear the Lakers did not have.
Offensive struggles bled into defensive lapses, resulting in Phoenix opening up a 20-point lead. On a day when the Lakers needed to come out focused, it would have been hard to draw up a more disastrous start.
The good news is that, starting with a couple of 3-pointers late in the quarter from Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers started to find a groove. That continued into the second period and a corner 3-pointer from D’Lo cut the lead to 10 and forced an early Phoenix timeout.
While the Suns rebounded and added some cushion to the lead again, the Lakers came right back and consecutive long-range efforts from Taurean Prince forced another timeout with the visitors down 56-47
In an equally rare feat, the Lakers closed a quarter strong in the second. After the Suns built up a bit more cushion, D’Lo scored the final eight points of the quarter for the purple and gold to head into the locker room down only nine points, 72-63.
While the Lakers came out with a focus to get Davis involved in the second half, the Suns still reeled off eight straight points early to push the lead back to 14. Another run from the Lakers in response, though, saw the lead chipped down to eight points.
The third quarter ground to a halt with a trio of replay reviews, once each for a challenge from both teams and a third for a potential clear path foul. As a result, the game lost much of its rhythm.
LeBron re-injected the energy with a pair of breakaway dunks to help the Lakers get as close as they had been since the first quarter, trailing by only five points.
