Going up against Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers were facing a stiff challenge.
Before beating the Orlando Magic by a slim margin on Sunday, they had lost three of their previous four games and were watching their odds of making the playoffs grow longer.
Los Angeles fell behind 7-2, but made the game competitive shortly afterward before taking a seven-point lead at halftime. After the Suns made the score tight again, the Purple and Gold extended the lead to double digits in the final period and held on for a 122-111 victory.
The win puts the Lakers back in 10th place in the Western Conference. They’re just half a game behind the seventh-place Minnesota Timberwolves and 1.5 games behind the sixth-place Golden State Warriors.
Anthony Davis: A-minus
Davis had scored 17 or fewer points in three of his previous five games, but on Wednesday against Phoenix he reverted to his usual self.
He only had seven points in the first half while dealing with double teams, but he asserted himself in the third quarter, scoring 14 points in the period against more single coverage. The play that may have gotten him going was when he caught the ball in the post against Jock Landale and drove past him for a thunderous dunk.
Bismack Biyombo did a better job of guarding Davis than Landale did; he blocked two of Davis’ shots. But it didn’t make enough of a difference, and the Lakers’ superstar big man took advantage of the absence of Deandre Ayton.
He finished with 27 points on 10-of-18 field-goal shooting and 7-of-10 from the free throw line, nine rebounds, five assists and one steal.
Jarred Vanderbilt: C-plus/B-minus
Vanderbilt drew the defensive assignment of guarding Devin Booker. He drew an offensive foul on an illegal screen, and then turned a steal into a fast-break layup while getting fouled and completing the three-point play.
Overall, the Lakers’ power forward couldn’t slow Booker. The Suns’ star shot 11-of-16 and scored 33 points. However, he also committed seven turnovers, and many of his shots were of the contested or semi-contested variety.
Vanderbilt only grabbed four rebounds, but he contributed more on the offensive end than he usually does. He was 5-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe, giving him 13 points in 26 minutes.
Troy Brown Jr.: C-plus/B-minus
Brown shot just 2-of-6 overall and 1-of-3 from beyond the arc tonight, giving him just six points. But he grabbed six rebounds and added two assists in 25 minutes to help the Lakers’ cause.
D'Angelo Russell: A
Russell was ultra-efficient against the Suns, going 9-of-13 overall and 3-of-6 from downtown to finish with 26 points. In addition, he dished six assists, although he committed four turnovers. For the second game in a row, he blocked two shots.
Austin Reaves: A-plus
Head coach Darvin Ham made a change to the Lakers’ starting lineup just before the tip by replacing Malik Beasley with Reaves. The undrafted wing responded with another huge game that drove the team to victory.
Just one game after he had a career-high 35 points, he put up 25 points while shooting 6-of-10 from the field. Once again, he did an outstanding job of drawing fouls and absorbing contact, which led to 13 free-throw attempts and 12 makes from the charity stripe.
Reaves also did an admirable job of helping Russell and Dennis Schroder with ball-handling and facilitating duties. He had 11 assists while committing two turnovers, and those 11 assists were, by far, the most by any player on either team.
By contrast, Chris Paul, who was averaging 9.2 assists a game coming into this contest, managed four assists in 30 minutes.
Rui Hachimura: D-minus
For the first time since becoming a Laker in January, Hachimura went scoreless. He attempted three shots in 13 minutes and missed all of them while never getting to the free-throw line. His only contribution was two rebounds.
Wenyen Gabriel: B-minus
Gabriel had an underwhelming game, especially compared to some of the performances he has had lately. He scored six points and grabbed two rebounds in 16 minutes while adding two steals and one assist, and he also missed three of his five free throws.
Dennis Schroder: B
Offensively, Schroder helped out with a very efficient 13 points in 29 minutes. He went 3-of-7 from the field, but he made all six of his free throws.
The free-throw line was a major advantage of L.A. on Wednesday. It attempted 46 foul shots compared to just 20 for the Suns, and it converted 36 of those attempts.
Schroder also had four rebounds and two assists, and he had some moments where he played some effective hounding defense on the Suns’ guards.
Malik Beasley: B-minus
Off the bench, Beasley shot just 2-of-6 overall, but he went a solid 2-of-5 from 3-point land and finished with six points plus four rebounds in 20 minutes. After the game, Ham praised him for playing hard and doing his job well despite being moved to the bench.
