Suns Strokes: Phoenix youngsters can’t stop hot-shooting Lakers

It’s been the one, and only, thing the Phoenix Suns have been able to count on during this soon-to-be seven-year playoff drought: beating the Lakers at home.

Now, they don’t have that either.

With six players scoring in double figures, the Lakers ended an 11-game losing streak at Talking Stick Resort Arena, beating the Suns, 122-110, in front of an announced crowd of 17,552 on Thursday.

D’Angelo Russell scored 10 of his game-high 28 points in the third quarter when the Lakers (20-45) turned a halftime deficit into a double-digit lead, an advantage they would not lose the rest of the way.

They would lead by as many as 21 points thanks to 48 percent shooting, including 44.4 percent from beyond the arc.

They also protected the basketball.

The Lakers, who had lost their last eight straight games, including their previous visit to Phoenix, a 36-point defeat, turned the ball over nine times compared to the Suns’ 20.

Devin Booker paced the Suns with 23 points, Marquese Chriss added 18, while T.J. Warren (17 points and 13 rebounds) and Alan Williams (16 points and 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles.

The Suns (21-44) have lost two straight after winning three in a row.

The good news in terms of lottery positioning is that they have closed the gap on owning the league’s second-worst record, trailing the Lakers by a single game.

The season series is tied 2-2.

THE GOOD

Six minutes into the game, all five Suns starters had scored. Chriss was the last to put the ball through the hoop, and he hit back-to-back field goals, including a 3-pointer that put the Suns up eight, 23-15 at the 5:56 mark, for Phoenix’s largest lead of the first quarter. Warren had a team-high nine points on 4-of-7 shooting with three rebounds, one assist and one block in the period.

Thanks to a 12-4 finish to the second quarter, the Suns went into the locker room with a 63-61 lead. Booker had seven of the points with Bledsoe adding a 3-pointer and Alex Len a tip-in. Booker had a game-high 13 points in the period, all in the final 5:15. He made 5-of-6 field goal attempts with a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws. His 17 total points on 7-of-12 shooting led all scorers.

Coming off his first double-double of the season, and second of his career, Warren made it back-to-back double-doubles after a six-point, two-rebound effort in the third quarter. Those marks gave him 15 points and 10 rebounds for the game. Warren shot 3-of-4 from the field, grabbed two defensive rebounds and finished his 12 minutes of court time with a pair of blocked shots in the third.

It had never been done in the history of the Suns franchise: five straight double-doubles off the bench. Williams made history at the 3:08 mark of the fourth quarter, grabbing an offensive board for his 10th rebound of the game. This five-game run, by the way, is the longest by an NBA reserve since Miami’s Hassan Whiteside did so in six straight games from March 4-14, 2016.

THE BAD

When it came to the Suns’ shooting in the first quarter, it was a case of hot and cold. They shot lights out, making 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) field goal attempts in the opening six minutes. Then, they went cold, missing 9-of-11 (18.2 percent) field goal attempts to close out the period. Still, they finished with a 50-percent mark and a one-point lead, 32-31, heading into the second quarter.

For almost a 4:30 second-quarter stretch, the Suns went without a point. They missed seven shots and turned the ball over three times. The Lakers took advantage scoring 10 straight points to retake the lead, 48-41, at the 5:36 mark. Rookie Ivica Zubac had eight of the points, making Len look silly at times. Zubac finished with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the period.

In the first half, the Lakers had six second-chance points. They had eight in the opening three minutes of the third quarter to help them retake the lead, an advantage that would balloon to as many as 11 points, 82-71, after a Brandon Ingram slam dunk in the face of Len at the 5:05 mark. The Lakers, by the way, finished the period with 14 total second-chance points.

The Lakers led by as many as 21 points, 116-95, a mark they hit when Julius Randle nailed a 3-pointer at the 4:53 mark of the fourth quarter. He had six points in the period with Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance, Jr. both scoring a team-best seven. Nance, Jr., whose father played for the Suns, brought the crowd to its feet with an alley-oop dunk off a turnover midway through the quarter.

STAT OF THE GAME

24-18: The Lakers scored 18 of their 24 second-chance points in the second half with 14 of those coming in the third quarter, when they outscored the Suns 29-18

HE SAID IT

“The same way we played today is the way we practiced yesterday,” head coach Earl Watson said. “We didn’t lose this game today, we lost it yesterday. The older guys played against the younger guys, which is basically who sits and who doesn’t play, and those veterans kicked their butt, and it carried over into today.”

NOTED

— Warren scored 14+ points for an eighth straight game, longest of his career.

— Derrick Jones, Jr. has made nine straight field goals, including seven dunks.

— The Suns’ last loss to the Lakers here in Phoenix was back on Jan. 5, 2011.

— Tyson Chandler and Brandon Knight didn’t play for the eighth straight game.

UP NEXT

For the first time this month, the Suns hit the road.

It’s a one-game trip as they visit Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

This is the third of four meetings between the teams this season.

Both previous matchups were memorable.

Most recently, Booker scored 28 of his career-high tying 39 in the fourth quarter, setting a franchise-record for points in a quarter, but the Suns lost 113-108 on Jan. 12 in Mexico City.

A week earlier, Bledsoe had a game-high 26 points and seven assists to win at American Airlines Center, 102-95, snapping a four-game losing streak in the series.

By the way, following the stop in Dallas, the Suns will host Portland the very next day, completing the 12th of their 14 back-to-back sets this season.

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