Lakers News: Sans Four Top Players, L.A. Slaughtered By Suns 130-104
After we got a full scope of just who would be absent tonight for your Los Angeles Lakers, tonight's end result became something of an inevitability.
All-Stars LeBron James (left ankle soreness) and Anthony Davis (right foot injury), Sixth Man of the Year contender Russell Westbrook (left foot soreness), and sharpshooting swingman Austin Reaves (right ankle sprain) were all sidelined tonight, the second night of a back-to-back, against the Phoenix Suns. Those four represent the Lakers' top performers in total minutes played, four of their top five players in average minutes per game, and four of their top five scorers.
One-time almost-Laker Chris Paul took advantage of the fact that L.A. was without two of its better better guard defenders, scoring a season-most 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe, in just 31:29, against the Lakers' available point guards. He also chipped in eight assists, four rebounds, and two steals, registering a +18 plus-minus on the night.
All told, he looked more like vintage Point God CP3 than he has all season. The recent college grad (at age 37!) has had a poor start to his 2022-23, but certainly was given plenty of room to find a rhythm tonight. Paul is averaging a career-worst 12.1 points on 40% shooting in his 17 healthy games thus far (he has missed 14 contests), plus 8.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals a night.
The loss drops the Lakers to a 13-17 record on the season, while elevating the Suns to a 19-12 mark thus far. With the victory, Phoenix has now beaten the Lakers by 10 or more points across the two franchises' last six straight regular season meetings.
Starting Lakers point guard Dennis Schröder did notch a (fairly meaningless) game-high 30 points, on 12-of-19 shooting from the field, along with four rebounds and four assists (against four turnovers), but he also logged a Lakers-worst -18 during his 29:11 on the floor. $13 million 6'1" starting "shooting guard" Patrick Beverley returned to action after sitting out last night's home win against the Wizards. He chipped in nine points while going 4-of-8 from the floor. That makes tonight's matchup one of his better offensive games of the season.
In the first quarter, head coach Darvin Ham opted to start the game with a relatively small first five. 6'2" Schröder ran the point, 6'1" Beverley played the two, 6'4" Lonnie Walker IV started at small forward, and 6'6" Troy Brown Jr. jumped power forward. At least 6'10" center Thomas Bryant was actually playing his natural position.
Predictably, this was a terrible move. L.A. let Phoenix kicks things off going a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe. Los Angeles was so desperate for any kind of spark that it even gave first quarter minutes to (gulp) Kendrick Nunn and two-way rookie point guard Scotty Pippen Jr. At one point in the period, the Suns went on an 18-1 tear, led by guess who:
That "good guys" designation is kind of a matter of opinion. But we digress.
By the end of the first frame, the Suns were already up 38-24, with Chris Paul personally accounting for 16 of those points (14 points, two assists).
Phoenix continued to build up its advantage throughout the game's second quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 30-20 in the period. Dennis Schröder was the lone Laker to get hot in the frame, singlehandedly chipping in 10 of his team's 20 points, on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 shooting from the free-throw line.
Though some Lakers fans were excited to see L.A.'s three young, rim-rolling backup bigs roam free with injury-dictated extra regulation minutes, the trio often struggled to get cooking in the paint against Suns centers Deandre Ayton and Bismack Biyombo. Here's Bismack smacking the heck out of the ball on multiple Lakers looks:
Ayton had already notched an efficient 14-point, 10-rebound against the Lakers' non-Anthony Davis big men at the halftime break:
The Suns led 68-44 at the half.
Both teams played pretty evenly in the third quarter, more or less trading buckets. L.A. actually outscored Phoenix in the frame, 33-31. That didn't stop Deandre Ayton from pulverizing L.A.'s centers on the block:
However, given that the Suns were already leading by 24 points at halftime, L.A. needed to use this time to actually make up ground if the team hoped to rally. It failed to do that.
At least Schröder got cooking in the quarter, scoring 14 points in the third quarter alone. He would be sat for the entire fourth period, with the game basically totally out of hand.
Nobody apparently told Patrick Beverley that he was on the losing side the equation this evening, as he continued to taunt Chris Paul despite his team being down a whopping 26 points at the time, while Beverley himself was being roundly outscored and outplayed by Chris Paul:
Hilarious? Maybe. Pathetic? Definitely. If this guy is still on the team at the end of the year, it might behoove fans to picket UCLA Health Training Center.
The two clubs finished the third quarter with Phoenix still up big, 99-77.
The fourth quarter was played expediently, with the game basically toast. The final tally: a brutal 130-104.
Six Suns scored in double figures, with five getting 15 points or more. Keep in mind, Phoenix did all of this while missing its best player, All-NBA shooting guard Devin Booker, and starting power forward Cameron Johnson. The Suns took and made significantly more triples (20-of-39) than the Lakers (12-of-28). That's a 24-point swing. Phoenix also enjoyed a massive rebounding edge, 58-46.
Four Lakers scored in double figures. Beyond Schröder's aforementioned big night, Kendrick Nunn had 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor (including 3-of-6 from deep). Lonnie Walker and Thomas Bryant added 16 apiece. Jones and Gabriel had more rebounds (seven and six, respectively) than they did points.
L.A. is hoping to be at least a bit healthier in time for its next matchup, Wednesday night against the surging Sacramento Kings, currently the fifth seed in the West at 16-12.
