Before the teams played on Sunday night, Anthony Davis had a few words to say regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ playoff loss to the Phoenix Suns last season. Updates On Lakers Vs Suns Game, Details You Don’t Want To Miss.
The NBA-leading Suns thrashed the Lakers 140-111 thanks to Devin Booker’s 30 points and Deandre Ayton’s 23 points and 16 rebounds in just 27 minutes.
Booker added 10 assists and four steals to his stat line. Phoenix improved to 54-14, 40 games over.500, thanks to Mikal Bridges’ 18 points. The Suns set a season best with 140 points.
Davis told reporters before the game that if he hadn’t been out with a groyne ailment last season, the Lakers would have beaten the Suns in their postseason series.
“We are aware of this. They are well aware of this.” Davis said, “They got away with one.”
Before the teams took the floor on Sunday, Booker claimed the Suns were informed of Davis’ remarks.
“Instead of taking the high road”, booker remarked, “You make a remark like that.”
With 31 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, LeBron James led the Lakers, who have now lost ten straight road games. In the fourth quarter, he did not appear.
On Carmelo Anthony’s 3-pointer in the second quarter, James recorded his 10,000th career assist. James is the only player in NBA history to have scored at least 30,000 points, racked up 10,000 rebounds, and dished out 10,000 assists.
“Whenever things like this happen to me, I’m at a loss for words,” James remarked. “I naturally begin to think about my hometown of Akron, Ohio, and my upbringing there. My ambitions of playing at the greatest level in this league and now sitting alone in a statistical category in this league were dashed. I base my game on the ability to score, rebound, and assist. I’ll say cool, but it doesn’t make sense to me to sit alone in a stat.”
Following the Suns’ loss to Toronto on Friday night, Ayton texted coach Monty Williams about his double-double. In the loss, Ayton had 16 points and seven rebounds, and texted Williams that he could take advantage of the Lakers’ small lineup, which included James at center.
“It wasn’t like I wanted extra points,” Williams explained. “‘I am capable of dominating them. I believe we should pay more attention to me. DA does not make such statements in order to increase his score and gain those points. ‘I can work down there,’ he says. I’ve known his goals for a long time, and he backed them up.”
When teams use a small lineup against him, Ayton feels “disrespected.”
He explained, “That’s just my thing.” “I’m punishing those kinds of teams.”
In the opening five minutes, the Suns blew it open. They embarked on a 14-0 run to grab a 16-6 lead, highlighted by back-to-back 27-foot 3-pointers by Booker. They kept pouring it on.
Phoenix led 48-22 after one quarter, the most points the Suns have scored in a quarter this season and the most points the Lakers have given up in a quarter since the shot clock was introduced.
In the first quarter, Phoenix had 14 assists and no turnovers while shooting 7 of 12 from 3-point range. The Lakers committed seven turnovers and made only one of ten three-point attempts.
Phoenix led by 23 points at halftime, with a season-high 79 points.
“We didn’t play well,” remarked Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “The way we started, and actually the entire night, was inexcusable… This is a difficult matchup for us to play small-ball against, but we must be better than we were tonight.”
F Cam Johnson has missed five games in a row due to a right quad contusion… Due to immigration concerns, Danish guard Gabriel Lundburg, who was signed to a two-way deal, will not report to the Suns for two weeks… For the first time since 2006-07, Phoenix has beaten every NBA team at least once this season.
Before the game, Williams was asked if he was surprised that James, who is 37 years old, had scored 50 points or more in two of the Lakers’ last three games.
“It’s difficult to score 25 points in an NBA game. Ask anyone who hasn’t done it,” Williams stated emphatically. “I don’t even think about his age anymore after what he’s done the last few games. He doesn’t appear to be approaching 40.”