Coming off an opening night loss, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking vulnerable, and it continued on Thursday against the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns were without Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, yet they were clearly the better team. They outrebounded and outhustled the Lakers, and they executed better in the halfcourt while the Lakers looked discombobulated.
Phoenix led by 12 at the end of both the first and third quarters, which represented its biggest lead, and Crypto.com Arena felt more like a crypt than a basketball arena.
Then the Lakers turned everything around.
It wasn’t pretty, but they did it the old-fashioned way — with grit, effort and hustle rather than Showtime. LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the way, and suddenly they were the ones who were doing the outhustling. Meanwhile, Phoenix shot 5-of-20 and committed nine turnovers in the fourth quarter. As a result, the Lakers chipped away and inched toward a 100-95 win.
The pundits and doubters may say this win proves nothing, but the Lakers proved they can defeat a quality team even when they aren’t playing well. They shot just 42.9% overall and 17.2% from 3-point range and committed 16 turnovers, but they had the edge in free-throw attempts, fast-break points and points in the paint, which is how they won games late last season en route to the Western Conference finals.
If Los Angeles consistently plays with the type of effort and intensity it had in the fourth quarter, it will go far this season.
Anthony Davis: A
Davis seemed hesitant to attack off the dribble or the catch in the first half. He had 11 points by halftime, but he stepped things up on both ends of the floor in the third quarter. Finally, in the fourth quarter, L.A. started to get Davis the ball in the low post, and he often made good things happen there.
He showed up on the other end by blocking three shots, getting three steals and grabbing 12 rebounds. In addition, he did a good job of playing help defense on Kevin Durant. While Durant had 39 points on 50% shooting, he went just 4-of-11 in the fourth quarter as L.A. started sending more than one defender his way when he got the ball.
Offensively, Davis finished with 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. As he usually does, he bounced back from a poor performance on Tuesday versus Denver.
Taurean Prince: F
Prince was assigned to guard Durant, and he didn’t get the job done. Durant is simply too big and tall for him (although, to be fair, he’s too big and tall for most wing defenders), and he was torched quite often.
Offensively, after a red-hot performance on Tuesday, Prince missed all five of his shot attempts and went scoreless. While there may be nights where points are hard to come by for him, he needs to contribute on the defensive end on such nights.
Austin Reaves: C-plus/B-minus
Reaves didn’t assert himself much in this game. But when he did, he was pretty effective. He finished 4-of-7 from the field, including 1-of-2 from downtown, giving him 10 points plus two rebounds, one assist and one steal.
The Lakers will not win a lot of games unless Reaves reverts to his usual aggressive self from last season.
D'Angelo Russell: D
This was another lackluster performance from Russell. He shot 6-of-16 overall, and he missed all but one of his seven 3-point attempts. While he helped with five assists, four rebounds, two steals and one block, the Lakers are clearly at a disadvantage when he isn’t hitting his shot.
With 4:55 left in the fourth quarter, head coach Darvin Ham took Russell out and replaced him with Reaves. Look for this to continue when Russell is struggling, especially now that Gabe Vincent is a Laker.
LeBron James: B
Earlier in the game, James wasn’t asserting himself much. But down the stretch, he made his presence felt. He made half of his six shot attempts in the fourth quarter, which was only one fewer attempt than he had in all of the first half, and he led by example down the stretch as L.A. turned the game around.
A sign of James’ increased intensity came during the Lakers’ fourth quarter rally when he grabbed a defensive rebound, created a fast-break opportunity, took the ball coast to coast and challenged Durant at the rim. He drew a foul and converted both free throws to put his team up by four. Inside of 90 seconds remaining, he made back-to-back layups to help ice the victory.
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer finished with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, nine assists, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. It’s interesting to note that he played 35 minutes and did not rest at all in the fourth quarter. He played 29 minutes on Tuesday, and according to Ham, the plan was to hold James to around 28-30 minutes a game, at least for now.
Perhaps this contest showed Ham will not be very firm with that minute limit, depending on the situation his team finds itself in.
Gabe Vincent: B
Vincent struggled with his shooting, going just 3-of-10 overall and 0-of-5 from 3-point range. Those are figures that need to greatly improve, especially his 3-point shooting accuracy.
However, students of the game will notice the positive impact he had. He made plays on the defensive end that resulted in turnovers and fast-break opportunities for the Lakers, and he played some tight defense on Phoenix’s guards. Multiple times, he helped recover a loose ball to prevent a turnover, and it often led to a basket for L.A.
Vincent ended up with six assists, three rebounds and three steals in 35 minutes, yet the stat sheet doesn’t show how instrumental he was in this game. Without him, the Lakers wouldn’t have beaten the Suns. Period.
Look for the former University of California, Santa Barbara standout to become a glue guy for the Lakers as the season progresses.
Christian Wood: B
Wood shot just 2-of-7, but much like Vincent, he was an overall positive for the Lakers because of his effort.
He did a decent job on Durant down the stretch and helped keep him in check defensively while playing alongside Davis in the frontcourt. He also secured 10 rebounds in just 21 minutes, and he wasn’t just getting rebounds — he was snatching them while boxing out hard.
For someone who has been accused of being an offense-only player who doesn’t defend or do the little things, this was an illuminating performance.
Rui Hachimura: C
In 12 minutes, Hachimura was somewhat quiet, getting up only three shots, making two of them and scoring seven points. He also had a steal and a block, but he had zero rebounds.
He needs to step up offensively much more often, especially when James is resting.
Cam Reddish: D
In about 12 minutes, Reddish went 2-of-5 and scored four points to go along with one rebound. It appears Ham is going with him ahead of second-year man Max Christie for now.
Jaxson Hayes: B-minus
Hayes had two rebounds and one steal in six minutes. His effort seemed solid, especially on the boards, but his overall game seems unrefined, and if Wood continues to defend and rebound like he did tonight, it may be hard for Hayes to get more than spot duty.
