The Los Angeles Lakers, shorthanded as they were against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night without Marc Gasol and Kyle Kuzma, in addition to missing Anthony Davis, were given a gift in the third quarter of their loss against the Suns. But the Suns were not in the habit of letting one play define them on Tuesday as their relentless nature helped them survive losing their leading scorer, beating the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-104.
LeBron James had a game-high 38 points to go with six assists and five rebounds. While James was excellent, he didn’t get enough help on the offensive end as Dennis Schröder (6 for 17) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (0 for 5) both struggled to help LeBron.
The Lakers bench, while they got a nice contribution from Talen Horton-Tucker, was outplayed by the Phoenix second group. Dario Saric led the Suns in scoring with 21 points and he feasted in isolation situations against several players on the Lakers. Were it not for Saric, the Suns would not have cruised to victory the way they did.