Suns Struggle to Stay Steady as Lakers Laugh Last
By Adam Maynes
Unlike the Suns’ previous game against the Pelicans, Phoenix was unable to take a close game near the end and pull away with clutch defense and shooting. While the Suns did keep the game tight late, the Lakers’ young stars of Julius Randall and D’Angelo Russell seemed to toy with the Suns in the end and Los Angeles was instead able to pull away late with a strong 119-108 victory.
Down 92-93 with five and a half minutes remaining, the Suns looked like they might have the fortitude to pull away after trailing for the majority of the game and steal their third victory in a row.
Unfortunately, following a jump shot by Jordan Clarkson, P.J. Tucker was called for a foul on a Nick Young who made a three-point basket and sank the subsequent free throw to complete the four-point play. Things got a little chippy as the Lakers began pulling away, and following an offensive foul call on Tyson Chandler with 1:46 left, Chandler and Julius Randall began to throw elbows at one another leading to a double-technical and the beginning of the end for Phoenix.
Moments later Devin Booker looked to catch an inbounds pass but ran over D’Angelo Russell – who flopped – getting called for the offensive foul and an automatic turnover. Unable to fully compose themselves and needing to foul to try and claw back in, the Lakers made eleven of twelve free throws in the final 1:09 to seal the deal.
The Suns’ bench was severely outplayed by the Lakers as L.A. outscored the Phoenix reserves 47-9, by far the worst discrepancy on the season. Timofey Mozgov and Lou Williams led the Lakers’ bench scoring with 14 points each and Luol Deng and Mozgov combined for 15 rebounds.
Booker’s 39 points placed him in rare scoring air. By scoring at least 38 points in two consecutive games, Booker became the youngest player ever to accomplish the feat, breaking the age-record previously held by Bernard King.
Tyson Chandler once again led the Suns in rebounding with 12, but Alex Len nearly kept pace snagging 11 off the bench. However, the Suns were out-rebounded by 13 as Nick Young, Tarik Black, and Luol Deng each had 7, and Mozgov finished with 8.
For the third consecutive game rookies Dragan Bender and Tyler Ulis did not make an appearance. Marquese Chriss came in briefly in the first half for 1:26, but the only statistic he recorded was a -4 on the +/- column.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| All NBA | 23 | 31 | 29 | 36 | 119 |
| All NBA | 15 | 28 | 33 | 32 | 108 |
Thoughts from the Valley of the Suns
Adam Maynes
With less than two minutes remaining the Lakers got under the Suns’ skin and they weren’t able to get them out. With the four-point play, the Tyson Chandler and Julius Randall rumble, and Devin Booker bowling over D’Angelo Russell, granted it was a flop, the Suns obviously let their frustrations get the best of them. Hopefully this game will be used as a learning moment by Earl Watson and the coaching staff because had the Suns stayed composed, it still seemed possible that the Suns could have pulled out the win.
It was also disappointing to not see the rookies a little more tonight. Coach Watson mentioned that he looks at the rotations in five-game intervals, meaning that the rookies might not get much play for another couple of games. I hope they do though as I would much rather see Chriss and Bender than P.J. Tucker, and at least from my perspective, Ulis had been playing very well as a backup point guard.
Kory Miller
I loved the Suns’ effort to keep fighting an obvious off-shooting night. However, the Suns committed way too many turnovers (17). While that’s expected from a young team to a certain extent, Phoenix can’t win many games playing like they did tonight.
The Suns dug a hole by playing awful in the first half, giving up second chance points like Halloween candy. I loved what I saw from Devin Booker in the second half. He’s showing the ability to really be a franchise player. I also liked T.J. Warren shooting himself out of a bad start to have another 20+ point game. That’s an important skill for a volume scorer like him.
Rob Neal
Speaking of the bench, it was a disaster in this game. Brandon Knight had 2 points in 17 minutes on 1-for-8 from the field. If coach Earl Watson was hoping to resurrect Manu Ginoboili in a Phoenix uniform – he may have a long time to wait. Knight looks as uncomfortable as he is ineffective. Marquese Chriss looked dazzled by the Staple Center Klieg lights in his few minutes. Eric Len had a nice block, but the big guy scored only 5 points, one on a wide open dunk.
This game was sloppy, and poorly played by both teams. The Lakers were lucky to get a win. An example of a league overrun by teenagers who may not be ready for prime time. But still, you had to like what you saw out of Booker and Warren tonight…for a time they looked like all-stars. But the very young Lakers are now over .500 and the young Suns have started 2-5. Phoenix has a long way to go.
Leave your thoughts and comments on the Suns 119-108 loss to the Lakers below!!
Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @ValleyOfTheSuns and Facebook at Facebook.com/PhoenixSunsBlog.