Lakers News: The Benefits Of LA Stars' Subpar Play In Suns Win

A possible road map for the future?

During Friday night's 121-107 win over the Phoenix Suns, your Los Angeles Lakers saw a handful of key role players step up when stars LeBron James (who scored just 16 points on 6-of-19 shooting) and Anthony Davis (14 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor, but also 21 rebounds) were having off scoring nights.

Elliott Teaford of The Orange County Register writes that the robust scoring of D'Angelo Russell (24 points), Austin Reaves (22 points) and Malik Beasley (21 points) serves as proof positive that this revitalized and reinvigorated Los Angeles club can survive games where the team's best players are not their usual superlative selves.

"It’s huge for those guys to be able to carry the load and make some shots and have their own different segments during the game,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham reflected. 

“Huge, man. The more pressure we can take off 'Bron and AD to have to go out and save the day or make every play, the better," Ham continued. "When they can just play manageable minutes and those other guys step up and play well, it just makes us that much more dangerous. And it saves some gas for our two big dogs.”

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