Valley of the Suns
Fansided

Record setting night as the Suns Beat LA!

Adam Maynes|
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17: Devin Booker
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 17: Devin Booker

There has been one significant positive about this Phoenix Suns team as a whole since Jay Triano took over as interim Head Coach: even when things go really  poorly one game, the team does seem to forget about it and move onto the next.

One night after being blown out at home on national television, the Suns entered Los Angeles to face the Lakers, a team that has defeated Phoenix already twice this season, both times in Arizona. But rather than allowing any sort of hangover from yesterday’s game to hold them back tonight, they attacked the Lakers from the get go, and on the back of another stellar performance by Devin Booker, as well as a record-tying night by Len and record setting night by Bender, the Suns pulled out a much needed victory.

Booker opened up the night on a torrid pace draining three 3’s in the first quarter on his way to eleven points. He doubled that offensive stat line in the second quarter and finished the first half with a six 3-pointers, tying his personal best in a game. Two of those three’s came in the final seconds where Booker appeared to be as hot as fire, and seemed destined to not only break his personal record, but potentially the franchise best of nine as well.

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The Suns shot a torrid 56.0% from the field for the half, scorching the Lakers with a 36-point second quarter, opening up a 12-point halftime lead. As history would have it, the Suns had led the Lakers at halftime in each of the team’s first two matchups, although tonight, there wouldn’t be a repeat of recent games past.

Brandon Ingram, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Julius Randle each scored in double figures in the half for Los Angeles, although their star rookie point guard, Lonzo Ball, contributed only 2 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist.

The Suns struggled on both ends of the floor in the 3rd quarter with the offense really appearing disjointed and out of control as the Lakers pressed Phoenix much tighter than they had in the first half. The Lakers would cut the Phoenix lead down to three points late in the 3rd, although the Suns would finished up on a 11-7 run spreading the lead back up to five heading into the 4th.

Although the Lakers would never re-take the lead, the two teams battled back and forth, with the Suns’ outside shooting that would hold the Lakers off.

Both Dragan Bender and Troy Daniels drained a pair of 3’s in the quarter, although it was Bender’s second 3-pointer that set his personal best.

That shot would set a career-high, appropriately enough coming on his 20th birthday. Bender finished with 10 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 1 blocked shot to go along with his 3-4 from beyond the arc.

Alex Len tied a personal-best by grabbing 18 rebounds, a record he set for himself two seasons ago. He would also score 17 points for his third double-double of the season, and his second coming off the bench. However, his defense in that the quarter was vital to holding off Los Angeles. Len grabbed 8 very important boards in the final stanza, the most in a quarter by a single Suns player this season.

Devin Booker would not make a 3-pointer in the second half and finished only 6-14 from the field, keeping his personal best for 3’s in a game at 6. Booker would, however, finished with a game-high 33 points on 13-27 from the field, although only 1-3 from the charity stripe.

Devin was also not used quite as often as the team’s point guard. Although he would finish with 4 dimes, he was out-shined in that category by Mike James’ 8 off the bench, and starter Tyler Ulis’ 7, which looks nice in a statbox next to his season-high 15 points.

Greg Monroe would follow up his 20 and 10 Suns debut with a clunker, finishing with 6 points and 1 rebound. He was also utterly uselfess on defense, never appearing to put in any effort to attempt and stop anyone trying to drive by him.

Marquese Chriss too would look all out of sorts, sleep-walking throughout the entire game. Chriss finished with 2 points on 1-4 shooting and 3 rebounds.

I don’t know about the rest of the Valley of the Suns, but it seems entirely time to sit Chriss on the bench and start someone else. Preferably Dragan Bender who brings a level of consistent energy and focus that Chriss has yet to show in his brief career.

Next: Player of the Week: Devin Booker

For the Lakers, Kyle Kuzma drained 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, appearing to be a potential front-runner for Rookie of the Year in 2017-18. Brook Lopez recorded the team’s other double-double with 19 points and 10 carmos, while Lonzo Ball, finished with a pathetic 6 points on 3-7 shooting, with 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, although he would set a career-high with 5 steals.

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