Lakers fall to Suns despite historic night from Davis.
Despite another phenomenal Anthony Davis performance, the Lakers' efforts weren't enough against the Suns, falling to Phoenix 115–105 to drop their season record to 5–11.
In a scrappy battle against Phoenix, the Lakers’ early season struggles came back to life, shooting 18.2% (4-for-22) from behind the arc, tying for their season-worst from three.
On top of their season-worst three-point performance, the Lakers had no answer for Phoenix, who shot 47% (16-for-34) from beyond the arc.
In his dominant stretch of the past three games, Davis’ success continued in Tuesday’s loss, scoring over 30 points and getting 15 or more rebounds for the fourth consecutive game.
“I don’t need any motivation. I go out here and play basketball,” said Anthony Davis. “I think I finally just caught a rhythm and also dealing with the back (had been an issue).”
Davis finished the game with 37 points on 65% shooting (11-for-17), 21 rebounds, 5 steals, and 5 blocks, joining Bob McAdoo as the only other player in NBA history with that stat line.
Late in the fourth quarter, Patrick Beverley was ejected for hip-checking Suns center Deandre Ayton for standing over and taunting Austin Reaves, who drew a foul on Devin Booker (getting smacked in the face, actually).
“It’s an emotional sport. At the end of the day, I’m not mad at him,” said head coach Darvin Ham. “He’s protecting his teammate. Teams have to know they can’t just push us around.”
Ayton immediately fell over Reaves, who was on the floor by his feet, getting back up in frustration. Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis went in front of Ayton’s way to keep him from Beverley, who was ejected right after.
“Got a person on the ground, two people looking over mean-mugging and puffing their chest out,” said Patrick Beverley.”Referees don’t get into it to kind of separate it, control the game, so I’m going to stand up for my teammate.”
Austin Reaves said he “loves” that Beverley had his back on the altercation. “If it was him, we would’ve done the same thing for him,” Reaves added.
“I love it, personally,” said Russell Westbrook. “Protecting and understanding we have each other’s back is the most important thing as a team.”
After Davis, only Lonnie Walker IV and Russell Westbrook had the next-highest impact on Tuesday’s loss.
Westbrook finished with 21 points on 45% shooting (9-for-20), adding 5 assists and 3 rebounds in 31 minutes of action.
Walker IV finished second on the team with 24 points on 44% (8-for-18) shooting overall, with 2 assists and a steal in 38 minutes.
Notable stats for the Lakers tonight from notable players:
- Dennis Schröder — 0-for-6
- Patrick Beverley — 0-for-2
- Troy Brown — 0-for-5
- Wenyen Gabriel — 0-for-3
All four failed to scratch from the floor tonight. That’s 0–16 from the four.
The answer I got tonight from the Lakers is an important one: They’re close to being a really good team. With LeBron James back in the lineup soon from injury and Davis continuing to play at a high level, the sky's the limit for them.
The Lakers could cause damage in the West with a healthy team, which is what I got tonight, and shooting better from three (could help with a trade for a three-point shooter or two, cough, cough).
The Lakers’ next matchup is on the road this Friday in the first back-to-back game against the San Antonio Spurs at 5:00 PM on Spectrum SportsNet.
