Phoenix Suns stay consistent with style of play, get past Lakers

While one former contender faces a treacherous road in getting back to that status, the defending Western Conference champions just keep on chugging along.

That’s the story of where the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns are at, one accurately represented in a 108-90 Suns win in L.A. on Tuesday.

The Lakers are dealing with COVID-19 troubles, missing four players due to health and safety protocols, along with head coach Frank Vogel. They’re also going to be without star big man Anthony Davis (left MCL strain) for a handful of weeks.

The thing is, we just saw the Suns the past couple of weeks play with only 10 available bodies, including stretches without Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker.

Through that, however, their identity, style of play and depth carried them. Los Angeles doesn’t have any of that right now, an apparent difference in the two sides on Tuesday.

The Suns (25-5) were up two at the half despite shooting 3-of-22 (13.6%) from three-point range, with many of those misses being open looks. The Lakers’ (16-16) offense was mostly individually based with aimless off-ball motion and little to no playmaking. Meanwhile, Phoenix’s quick-hitting offense was operating at full strength.

Los Angeles’ LeBron James had 19 of his 34 points in the first half, with five of his nine field goals on jumpers, which is a shrug of the shoulders for Phoenix as long as the defense was contesting those.

It was, and all signs pointed toward a large degree of separation forming in the second half.

Devin Booker hit a trio of three-pointers in the first two minutes out of halftime, matching that team total in the opening two quarters. An Ayton putback a minute later saw the Lakers call a timeout down 13, and it looked like we were just about wrapped up.

We were, albeit after extra developments and another quarter.

Carmelo Anthony, one of the Lakers’ few positive contributors outside of James, was ejected in the mid-third quarter after a spurt of momentum got his club within six.

Less than a couple of minutes later, James had an awkward landing for his left leg on Jae Crowder’s foot, tweaking his ankle. The 37-year-old played through it and was clearly more limited in his movement the rest of the way.

The back-half of the third quarter was the Lakers’ time to strike, as the Suns’ offense lost a bit of rhythm, but James needs to rest at some point and that’s when he was getting it. There was no source for offense with him on the bench, though, so Phoenix’s lead got back up to 12 through three quarters.

James came back in but looked fatigued on top of the bum ankle, and so there was no flurry to get the Lakers and their crowd back into the game. With the Suns up 12 and seven minutes remaining, an 8-0 Phoenix run over the next two minutes closed up shop.

“We just tried to be solid. I think we started making shots and defending at a high level,” Booker said of the change from the Suns in the second half.

It was a top-shelf performance out of Ayton for the fourth straight game. He contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-11 shooting, with his offense keeping the Suns afloat in the early-going when shots weren’t falling.

That continued with his backup JaVale McGee, and at one point in the early second quarter, Suns players outside of those two were shooting 4-of-24 (16.6%). The Lakers went small at times, even with five guards, and the Suns punished them inside.

If Ayton keeps this level of play up for the next couple of weeks, it’s time to start talking about him having a legitimate All-Star case.

Booker had 24 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, the leading scorer of a team with seven players in double figures.

Cam Johnson’s 14 points marked 10 games in a row for his streak of staying in double figures.

Mikal Bridges had a rare inefficient shooting night on volume, a 5-of-17 mark that started at an 0-for-8 number, but it was a very positive sign that he stuck with it and remained aggressive. Naturally, he was a game-high +24 with 14 points.

The Lakers shot a dreadful 7-for-35 (20.0%) from three-point range, with the majority of those attempts coming from shooters in positions the Suns will live with. Even after the Suns knocked down some shots in the second half, they still wound up at a not-so-great 12-for-41 (29.3%).

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