The Los Angeles Lakers were finally reminded what it feels like to lose on Sunday night and the right shoulder of Anthony Davis started to bother him a little bit more, but life in the Western Conference often means getting to leave a loss behind to face a challenge of even greater difficulty. Tuesday night, the Lakers will get that chance as they visit a surprisingly strong Phoenix Suns squad.
After nine games, the Suns have a 6-3 record and are in 6th place in the Western Conference. And they’ve done with two-way excellence that hasn’t been found from most teams in the league through the first three weeks of the season. According to Cleaning The Glass, which eliminates garbage time, the Suns have the 8th ranked defense and the 4th ranked offense in the league so far.
The biggest change of all started with the hiring of head coach Monty Williams, but the Suns front office is also reaping the benefits of offseason moves like their trade for center Aron Baynes and signing free agent point guard Ricky Rubio. Kelly Oubre Jr., who they traded for last season from the Wizards, is having an excellent start to his season as well. The added help has led to Devin Booker’s best all-around start as a pro, as he looks primed for his first All-Star berth.
Off the bench, Frank Kaminsky, Tyler Johnson and Mikal Bridges all create plenty of problems for their opponents. To avoid a result like Sunday, the Lakers bench must play better than they did against Toronto against a strong Suns second unit.
Tuesday night won’t be easy for the Lakers and Anthony Davis may still be dealing with some pain in his shoulder. But sometimes that dose of reality is what you need to see a contender show you who they are.
[lawrence-related id=21588,21539]