Los Angeles Lakerswho had won seven of their last nine games and three of their previous four meetings against the Suns, They succumbed this Sunday in Phoenix (123-113) in a key duel in the West against some local teams that were more successful in attack with their entire starting quintet above 18 points.
It is the first time that the Suns have achieved that statistic for its five starting players since 2009.
Kevin Durant (22 points and 7 assists) and Devin Booker (21 points and 9 assists) They were wonderfully accompanied by Jusuf Nurkic (18 points, 22 rebounds and 7 assists), Royce O’Neale (20 points and 10 rebounds with 6 triples) and Grayson Allen (24 points also with 6 triples).
Additionally, Bol Bol (11 points) stood out in the second unit of the Suns in which Bradley Beal missed his 19th game this seasonthis time due to a muscle injury.
For the Lakers, LeBron James scored 28 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists while Anthony Davis added 22 points and 14 rebounds and D’Angelo Russell added 20 points and 7 assists.
Two statistics clearly marked the match: the huge first quarter for the Suns (45-28), which forced the Lakers to row against the current for the rest of the game; and Phoenix’s superiority in rebounding (51 for 34).
Both involved in the fight for the ‘play-in’ of the West, The Suns (34-24 balance) now lead 3.5 games over the Lakers (31-28).
Great local start
At the midpoint of the opening quarter (20-15), Nurkic had 6 points, the same as LeBron so far. But it didn’t take long for the Suns to take off on the scoreboard in a fantastic home start.
After a frenetic exchange of errors, triples and dunks, The segment ended with a resounding 45-28 for the Suns with Booker as the leading scorer with an impressive 11 personal points in addition to 5 assists.
at your side Bol also shone, who broke out from the second unit with 7 points in that first quarter including some spectacular plays. Phoenix led by 20 points in that first quarter.
LeBron reached his 11 points, with an angry dunk, in the first minutes of the second quarter, and shortly after passing a magical assist to Davis that finished in an ‘alley-oop’. But everything continued to go better for the Suns (53-39 with 8.26 for the break).
The Lakers closed their defense, fueled their offense and Rui Hachimura gave hope to the visitors (58-50) midway through the second quarter.
But the Suns did not let their guard down and O’Neale’s fourth triple defended Phoenix’s leadwhich reached halftime with a moderate lead of 9 points (72-63).
The rebounds (27 for the Suns, with 13 for Nurkic, compared to 14 for the Lakers) decided the difference on the scoreboard in the first half despite a sensational 18 goals from Russell in the opening half for the Lakers.
Durant made two of two triples in the first minute and a half of the third segment, strengthening the confidence of the Arizona team, but The Angelenos did not give up and Rusell from the paint and Austin Reaves with a layup tightened the lead (80-72 with 9.09 left).
A furious solo dunk from LeBron, after a steal on defense, and another hang from Davis and a triple from Max Christie They claimed the game for the Californians (88-86 with 3.21 left).
With Durant and LeBron on the bench, Davis hung on the rim twice more and the quarter ended at 95-90 after Allen’s fourth triple.
Allen’s fifth triple opened the scoring of the final quarter, but LeBron responded with two consecutive three-pointers.
The Suns, who had recently shown a lot of trouble maintaining their leads in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter, did this time. they remained solid in the outcome and they prevented the Lakers’ comeback.
The sentence placed O’Neale with his sixth triple at 1.24 to finish the game with a +13 that was already insurmountable for the visitors.
2024-02-26 02:13:11
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