Suns Drop Lakers, Win Eighth Straight at Home
With less than 30 games left in the NBA regular season, every game is meaningful in terms of standings and jockeying for placements. In the West, the five seed and the ten seed are only separated by four games, leaving much to be played out in the final stretch of the season. In a nationally televised Sunday afternoon game in Phoenix, the Suns were able to outmatch the Los Angeles Lakers by a score of 123-113. The Suns came out scorching in the first quarter, recording their highest scoring total in a quarter this season with 45, and a 17-point lead after one. The Lakers, in their typical desperation fashion, attempted multiple comebacks that shaved the margin down, but they were never able to take hold of the lead. The lead was trimmed to just five heading into the final frame, but the Suns’ offensive rebounding and timely three-point shooting kept the game out of reach.
The scoring was extremely balanced from both teams, with an absurd eleven players putting up double-digit points. The Suns had four 20+ point scorers, led by Grayson Allen’s 24 with six made threes. Veteran utility man Royce O’Neal was inserted into the starting lineup and provided massive dividends, hitting six threes of his own en route to a 20-point performance. Center Jusuf Nurkic had arguably his best game in a Suns uniform, finishing with 18 points, 22 rebounds (seven offensive), and seven assists. Stars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker weren’t called upon to have monster offensive outputs in this one, as they contributed 22 and 21 points, respectively. For the Lakers, LeBron James inched closer to the 40,000-point milestone with a 28-point outing to pace all Lakers. Anthony Davis chipped in 22 points and 14 rebounds, while D’Angelo Russell continued his mid-season revival with 20. The Lakers outshot the Suns (percentage-wise) from the floor as well as the three-point line but can look at the offensive rebounding (14-3) and free throw (19-8) disparity as key components to the loss.
The Suns will have an extended rest period in Phoenix, where they will not play again until Thursday night against the Houston Rockets. They will look to extend their home winning streak to nine games and keep pace for a top-six seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers drop down to the tenth seed and will have to put together a win streak in the near future to have any real possibility of escaping the play-in games. Up next for the Lakers is a crosstown showdown on Wednesday against the Clippers, which will be another significant game in the West for both squads.
