Lakers have put Suns C Deandre Ayton through the wringer for his betterment

Down 2-1 to the Los Angeles Lakers after a Game 3 loss Thursday, the Phoenix Suns officially have their backs against the wall.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis look like they’re gaining traction for L.A. coming off their respective injuries. Phoenix’s confidence and execution has seemingly regressed.

There’s a lot of bad news for the Suns heading into Game 4 Sunday.

Regardless of how this series goes, and as much as this first-round matchup has revealed the limitations or inexperience of the Suns’ roster, they’ve at least put the forging of a massive building block to their future into a higher gear.

Deandre Ayton has been a revelation through the first three games of the Suns’ first playoff series in 11 years.

He’s averaging 21.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and a block per game on 82% shooting.

If you want, you can pop an asterisk by Ayton going 32-of-39 from the field — the Lakers have remained accepting of him scoring at the rim at will. Los Angeles is fine befuddling Phoenix’s perimeter players and allowing the 22-year-old big man to score.

Ayton’s confidence needed this.

And his defense that started without a foundation to begin his rookie year is receiving a master class from Los Angeles in how NBA teams can adjust on the fly to attack him.

Ayton has toggled between defending the physical Andre Drummond, the skilled Marc Gasol and, most notably, the point-guard-turned-stretch forward Davis.

Ayton began Game 1 by throttling the Lakers physically in one-on-one matchups. Los Angeles adjusted by sending Ayton into more on-ball screens, but also has required off-ball screens against him to break Davis loose, a complement toward the Suns center.

In Phoenix’s 109-95 loss Thursday, the Lakers frequently ran elbow pick-and-rolls to put Ayton on the baseline, where he was containing the ball handler while worrying about recovering on Davis.

There were some wins for Ayton in those situations.

I’m going to give Ayton credit for the multiple efforts here. Lakers went to Elbow for AD. Navigates the screens (was a problem in G2), shows on the pick and roll. He’s shown a lot this series. pic.twitter.com/U4H5SBZtBc

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 28, 2021

Here’s another one below, where Ayton and the Suns handle the initial action well again.

Ayton on the backside has support to stop James advancing as Booker recovers to James, but James finds Davis with space to work at the free-throw line. Davis attacks Ayton for an and-one, one of the tougher buckets of the game for him.

Stringing together two efforts used to be a chore for Ayton. This time, he does that fine but finally makes his mistake with his stance and arm placement not being ready to avoid contact.

As it’s been all year, sometimes Ayton remains too worried about whether a bully like Drummond is going to get a dump-off or a theoretical floor-spacer like Davis will get an uncontested three.

What he was supposed to do in Game 3 against Davis is hard to say. It looked like the Suns wanted Ayton to treat Davis as a true three-point threat despite all but a single Davis mid-range shot coming at the cup.

That took Ayton out of the paint, allowing Dennis Schroder and James to drive by their defenders for easy buckets without backline help. Meanwhile, Davis mostly thrived the same way Ayton has — with easy opportunities thanks to broken down rotations or help on the Suns’ end.

Maybe that’s why the Suns flipped Ayton back to covering Drummond at points, putting him closer to the rim to protect it.

Here, Ayton is so worried about Drummond in the dunker’s spot that he allows James to get all the way to the rim without helping.

So start of second half of G2, Ayton got flipped to Drummond and the Lakers got mileage out of AD/LeBron. Suns had switched and it caused problems. Lakers went back to it here, Suns try to put Crowder in a drop this time and…it didn’t work. pic.twitter.com/FeMNTRpoFh

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 28, 2021

Ayton is essentially taken out of the play as Drummond loops behind the basket — very much out of bounds — where he’s hoping to sneak loose for an offensive rebound. Ayton probably should have stepped up to contest James.

But that’s also on Crowder, who in drop coverage can’t keep James contained in front of him as the Lakers star gets a head of steam. Easier said than done.

As it is with young players, there are a handful of blown plays by Ayton.

This below appears to be a simple miscommunication, or at least Ayton not being confident in whether he’s supposed to hedge or switch. He ends up doing neither well.

It looks like, maybe, Bridges couldn’t hear Ayton call out a coverage.

Ayton might take heat for a Lakers shot chart that’s full of dunks and layups. But it also matters that the Lakers appear to be getting James and Schroder going and pulling Ayton out of the paint when he’s on Davis.

James looked a tad more explosive in Game 3 just by getting downhill.

It was bad news for the Suns at the start of the fourth quarter, when an Ayton-lacking lineup opened up the middle even more for Los Angeles. Torrey Craig, like Ayton, isn’t sure he wants to leave Davis for a driving James, who will make the right read no matter what he does. That’s why the Lakers are tough on anyone.

It matters that Dario Saric and Frank Kaminsky have matched up atrociously with the Lakers’ frontline, but it also can’t be dismissed that Ayton just gives the Suns something that, with so many other players struggling, they absolutely can’t do without.

The Lakers have put Ayton through the wringer as a defender, from matchups to scheme adjustments and beyond. They’ve also given him confidence.

Of all the Suns players, did you expect Ayton at this point to be playing the most consistent ball with the most even-keel attitude?

That’s a huge win for the Suns in future years, if not in the next week.

Follow @kzimmermanaz