If the Los Angeles Lakers started off their season going 0-4 by losing against the sorry-ass Phoenix Suns, I seriously don't know what I would've done with myself. Thankfully, I don't have to go into hiding anymore out of shame, as they put out one hell of a first-half effort on both ends of the floor to crush the Suns 131-113.
The Lakers got great games across the board from their starters and key bench guys. Seven people ended up scoring in double figures. Lance Stephenson actually had the highest point total of 23 thanks to his garbage time show, but they got nice games from Lonzo (12 pts, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 5/9 shooting), Josh Hart (15 points, 4/6 from three), Kyle Kuzma (17 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 7/15 shooting), LeBron (19 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, 7/16 shooting), an especially potent line from JaVale McGee (20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks, 8/13 shooting).
Laker fans can all exhale tonight. They finally put up a good defensive performance in the second quarter and coupled that with a cohesive plan of attack. They finally got that winless monkey off their back, but the flaws of the roster will still be there tomorrow staring them right in the face. They need a reliable backup center, and more shooters for the love of God.
Game Recap
First Quarter
After a slew of ire from Laker & basketball fans from across the globe, Luke Walton finally elected to start Josh Hart in the Shooting Guard role of a regular season game. The first points of the game were scored on a lightning-quick LeBron alley-oop to JaVale McGee. It happened almost instantaneously after tipoff - if you blinked you missed it. The elation was short lived though as the Suns took that fast-break energy and got three straight easy baskets off the Lakers embarrassing defense. Phoenix had a chance to really pile it on to the Lakers (like every other team has done), but they weren't shooting at the same caliber that the other victorious teams were. Kyle Kuzma got a dunk taht gave the Lakers an early lead, 9-8. JaVale could've made it 11, but he missed a WIDE OPEN dunk that rimmed out, blessing us us a hot n' ready soon-to-be Shaqtin-A-Fool clip.
Brand-new Sun (and former Laker) Trevor Ariza got fouled on a three-point shot, sending him to the line to shoot a few free throws which put the Suns up by one, 10-9. DeAndre Ayton followed that with a dunk that pushed it to 12-11, and that caused the Lakers to call a timeout. They ran a play for Lance Stephenson and LeBron after that which resulted in a Laker bucket, 13-12. The Lakers rolled out a small lineup, which laid some great opportunities for No. 1 pick and star Phoenix big man DeAndre Ayton. A terrible defensive possession by the Lakers initiated another timeout, with the purple and gold down by two, 18-20 with 4:24 remaining.
Svi Mykhailiuk checked into the game and set up a nice alley-oop to JaVale McGee. That was the start of an incredibly confusing string of possessions for JaVale that included a hilariously bad brick on a floater from TWO FREAKIN FEET AWAY, followed by a swished 18 footer, then a swished three pointer....I was genuinely confused, but not complaining. My friend Amara remarked that "his inconsistency is key", meaning his strength lies in his unpredictability. She was definitely right. JaVale is an enigma, an occasional glitch in the basketball Matrix. The Lakers second and third stringers closed the quarter out strong with some Lance Stephenson-facilitated paint points and a Kentavius Caldwell-Pope three. The Lakeshow had the advantage after one close quarter of action, 32-30.
Second Quarter
The second quarter started off with dueling baskets between Jamal Crawford and Lance Stephenson. A guaranteed recipe for entertainment. J-crossover hit a nice mid-range and Lance countered with two of his own to retain the Laker advantage, 36-32. He even got a steal mid-court and laid it in the hoop in transition to build a true Laker lead, 38-32. Phoenix needed a timeout after that. The Suns turned it over right after that timeout, and Lance assisted LeBron to put the Lakers up 40-32. with 9:30 to go in the first half. A couple of defensive breakdowns for the Lakers ensued, and a wide-open Ryan Anderson three had the Suns inching ever-closer to the Lakers 37-42.
Kyle Kuzma and LeBron started running some action together. JaVale McGee was on the court playing the 5-spot instead of Kuzma. Kyle plays a lot better when he's set back into his natural position at Power Forward. He especially seems to capitalize when he's PF next to LeBron. They tightened up on defense a bit, and all of the sudden they were up on Phoenix 51-41 after a Lonzo Ball three with 6:00 to go. Lonzo had a nice series of plays after that three-ball, which included an and-1 muscle bucket off a LeBron assist and a steal at midcourt which led to a transition dunk. That sent the Lakers up 13, 56-43 with 5:30 remaining.
Phoenix called a timeout after that Lonzo dunk. Typically the Lakers have come out weak after timeouts, but this time we saw them put on an excellent defensive sequence, followed up by a Josh Hart three and flashy Lonzo-to-LeBron transition bucket. LeBron was called to the bench after that, and Josh Hart took the initiative of control over the guys on the floor. The Lakers ballooned the lead to 20, 63-43 with about four minutes to play. Devin Booker took things in his hands for the Suns, trying to get Phoenix back in it with trips to the line. Luke Walton promptly sent LeBron and Lonzo back in to close the quarter. The Suns had momentum, and it felt like they could make a mini-run at the end to cut the lead to 10. A couple of promising offensive possessions occurred for the Suns, who cut the lead down to 14 with the seconds winding down. But LeBron took over in the last minute and pushed the Laker lead up to 22 after the final buzzer of the half. They scored 44 points in that second quarter to wrap up what was undoubtedly their best-looking half of basketball on both ends of the floor. Lakers up 76-54.
Third Quarter
The Lakers kept the Suns at arm's length to start the third. The teams traded baskets for the majority for the first six minutes. With the Lakers still up 20, 85-65, KCP and Jonathan Williams spurred up a few baskets to push the lead to 24, 91-68. Devin Booker and TJ Warren hit a couple jumpers to get it past the 20-point deficit, 75-92, and then Ariza hit a three to cut it down even more 78-92. LeBron and Kyle Kuzma proceeded to get into a solid two-man groove as they pulled the Lakers closer to that 20-point advantage, 99-81. The ship maintained its course until the final minutes of the third, where the Lakers sat comfortably at 106-86
Fourth Quarter
Svi Mykhailiuk's number was called to start the fourth, and he made his presence known by draining a three to put the Lakers up 109-86. The third and fourth stringers led by Lance Stephenson were getting some run, and they ran it up to almost 30 on the Suns before Phoenix was whistled for a timeout. Devin Booker wasn't getting any more time in the game, but Deandre Ayton was still out there putting the ball on the floor.
The Lakers were up 119-95 as we cruised the six-minute mark in the game. Josh Hart was out here playing garbage time, and his shot was still wet. He seemed like he was in a hell of a shooting groove for a few games now. The remaining minutes passed by swiftly as the refs left their whistles resting against their chests, opting to let the boys play it out (probably because they wanted to go home too). LA capped it off at 131-113 to etch in their first win of the 2018-19 NBA season.
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Takeaways
-LeBron and Kuzma continue to show an incredibly promising scoring chemistry. They even look like they can kill you in more ways together than LeBron and Brandon Ingram did in the preseason. The Ingram and LeBron pairing really thrived with Ingram as a slasher. I think the value of BI over Kuzma comes from his potential as a defender though. Ingram is so lanky and he can already give headaches to positions 1-4 because of that length.
-Given, we are only a few games in the season, but Luke Walton may want to consider running more plays with LeBron and Kuzma over LeBron and BI if the scoring is stale. Kuzma is just a little more polished offensively. I think Brandon Ingram might have the higher overall ceiling, but in terms of fit and maybe against certain lineups, Luke should consider prioritizing Kuz/LeBron at the forward pairing while just putting any warm body that can stick their hands up at center.
-Josh Hart is also setting himself up to be the Lakers go-to shooter in the near future. They are a couple shooters short of being an intimidating presence, but Josh can be a useful piece in whatever they're building with their shooters. he was 4/6 from three-point land tonight and is 8/13 from beyond the arc in his last two games. He's shooting at a 47.1% clip from three so far in this young season. Luke made the unquestionably right choice in starting him tonight. Now only if we can get Hart to work on improving his perimeter defense. That would make him invaluable. He's a surprisingly adept post defender for a shooting guard thanks to his strong lower base, but a competent perimeter presence would solidify him even more.
-Lance Stephenson seems to play well against shitty teams! When the Lakers have a comfortable lead built, he's more than ready to take over like it's the early 2010's Indiana Pacers. That's great though. Hopefully Lance's unwavering enthusiasm will keep us winning the games that we should win against lower-tier teams.
-The Lakers also took care of ball security tonight with only 8 total turnovers (compared to the Suns 20). I'm surprised they didn't rack up many more in the second half, which was ripe with garbage time. They won't have that low amount of turnovers against a savvier defensive team, but again it's good that they took care of business against a bad one.
Looking Ahead
We will certainly find out soon how they carry momentum when it's sitting in their hands. They're hopping back on a plane home as I write this, gearing up to play the Dever Nuggets in Los Angeles at 7:30 PM Pacific Time on Thursday. It'll be an incredibly tough test of their mettle, one I'm glad they're taking on their home court. An away game in Denver's elevation off of a back-to-back with how good the Nuggets and Jokic look would be almost a guaranteed "L" in the win/loss column. The Nuggets and Lakers have some bad blood boiling over from last season, with both teams getting the best of each other in some testy exchanges that almost led to fights in the waning seconds. Should be some fun stuff! Tune in to tomorrow's action on TNT, and catch the highlights of Lakers/Suns below!
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