3 reasons the Phoenix Suns are better than the Los Angeles Lakers

2. They can now combat the Lakers' size

An interesting thing happened in the first-quarter of Sunday's win for the Suns. Throughout much of the season they have struggled not only to contain the size of the Lakers, but of any team that have big players who can bully their way inside. Durant is a willing big man and Nurkic can more than hold his own. Beyond that though, and it is slim pickings.

So to combat the interior threat of James and Anthony Davis, the Suns went with Nurkic, Durant and Bol on the court together at the same time. The results weren't exactly devastating, but it was clear the Lakers were thrown by the sudden length on the court facing them. Nurkic continued to bully his way inside, while Bol was on hand to catch some important rebounds.

This left Durant to do most of his work on the offensive end, while at least making it difficult for Davis when the Lakers had the ball. You can't stop either James or Davis over the course of a whole game, but this slowed the Lakers down and actually turned the lineups in favor of the Suns when it came to length and inside threat.

With Nurkic matching up mostly with Davis, and Durant with James, this left the not very good defensively Bol to freelance and hover near Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell and Taurean Prince. The result was that they had a long-limbed and willing defender covering them both on and off the ball, which nullified the threat of the Lakers' role players. An excellent wrinkle to have.