Tankers Celebrate: Suns lose to Lakers, Climb Back to Within One

Seriously. Did anybody expect this? Even a late 15-1 run couldn’t overcome the juggernaut that was the Los Angeles Lakers.

Coming into tonight’s game the Los Angeles Lakers had been in tank now and tank hard mode for some time now, and their nearest competitor for the best chance at the number two overall pick is the Phoenix Suns who in the most recent matchup blew them out by 36 points.

The Suns had also recently had a three-game winning streak, nearly adding a fourth consecutive, and all-in-all had looked like a significantly better team over the past two weeks than they had all season.

None of that mattered for either team tonight as the Lakers manhandled the Suns, pulling Phoenix to within a single game of the Lakers in the reverse standings when a Suns win might have actually ended the race all together.

The two teams opened up like a track meet with Phoenix seemingly absorbing the early Lakers threat with ease, both teams appearing to resemble teams of the past, when the passes were plentiful and the shots and dunks pleased the regularly sell-out crowds.

The Lakers kept the pace up though and throughout the first half Phoenix was unable to pull away as the two teams battled often scoring bucket for bucket. Each team held eight point leads in the first half, but by intermission the Suns only held a four-point lead and seemed to be entirely incapable of stretching it to a dominating gap that the Lakers could not overcome.

The second half, however, was an entirely different story.

Grabbing the lead back from Phoenix in less than two and a half minutes on a missed jump shot by Alex Len leading to a layup by D’Angelo Russell, the Suns then turned the ball over on four of their next nine possessions. In the process the Phoenix offense disappeared as the Lakers built an 11-point lead over a 3:19 Suns scoreless streak in the early part of the quarter.

Over the final 3:42 of the quarter Alan Williams did his best to keep the Suns close scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds although even with Williams’ strong end of the third, the Lakers took a nine-point lead into the fourth, then stretched it to 11, fourteen seconds later.

The lead continued to swell as the Lakers outscored Phoenix 26-14 to start the final frame, reaching a 21-point apex with 5:53 remaining following a Julius Randle three (his second of the game).

The Suns would make the final few minutes somewhat exciting as they would immediately turn around and burst into a quick 15-1 run pulling themselves to within 117-110 with just under a minute remaining. But time was not only their side and a lost possession when Eric Bledsoe threw the ball away under the hoop allowing the Lakers to run the clock down. Russell would nail a three with 32.5 seconds remaining putting the Lakers up by 10, and the game out of reach.

Although there are many issues that could be pointed to that led to the Suns’ undoing, it was their poor ball control that hurt them the most. Phoenix turned the ball over 19 times to Los Angeles’ 9. In the process L.A. scored 24 points off of Phoenix TO’s, whereas the Suns scored nine – eight of which came in the first quarter alone.

The Suns are now 0-20 when allowing their opponent to score at least 120 points. The last time the Lakers scored at least 120 was actually their last win, a 122-114 defeat of the Milwaukee Bucks, 29 days ago.

There were a few bright spots for the Suns as T.J. Warren scored 17 points and also recorded his second double-double in a row (the third of his career) with his career-high 13 rebounds in 39:08. Warren did a little of everything for the Suns as he also recorded 3 blocked shots which tied his career-high, set once last season.

Alan Williams continued his record breaking pace with a 16 points and 10 rebound double-double. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Williams is the first reserve in franchise history to record five consecutive double-doubles off of the bench. Big Sauce is averaging 14.4 points and 12 boards over that stretch.

Devin Booker recorded his second straight 20+ scoring game dropping 23 on L.A. adding 6 rebounds. Eric Bledsoe only managed 13 points on 4-12 shooting, although grabbed 7 boards himself and dished out a game-high 5 assists.

Phoenix out-rebounded the Lakers 54-42 totaling the seven highest rebounding game for the Suns this season.

D’Angelo Russell led all scorers with 28 points on 50% shooting and 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. Jordan Clarkson added 19 points off the bench in 35 minutes although Ivica Zubac added 14, in only 16:58. Brandon Ingram too added 14 points. Julius Randle scored 13 with 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

With the win, the Suns climb to within one game of the Lakers for last place in the Western Conference and the second worst record in the NBA. Both the Suns and the Lakers have two of the most difficult schedules remaining.