Lakers struggle in loss to the Suns.
The Lakers fall to 0–2 to the start of the season after a poor s2nd and 3rd quarter performance against the Suns, losing 115–105. After finishing the 1st quarter with a three-point lead, the Lakers went on to get outscored by the Phoenix Suns 71–41 in the 2nd and 3rd quarter combined. The Lakers were unable to win the points in the paint battle for the second straight game, getting outscored by Phoenix 52–26 in the paint. Highlighting how bad they have been inside the paint, the Lakers have horrendously been outscored 98–60 in the paint in the first two losses of the season.
During a Lakers timeout before the end of the first half, teammates Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard got into a heated altercation in which teammates and staff had to separate the two. After the game, Dwight Howard addressed the argument, saying they squashed the disagreement right then and there explaining how passionate they were about beating the team (Suns) that knocked them out of the first round of the playoffs last season, saying:
“We squashed it. There is no issue between me and him and that’s my brother. That’s my teammate and that’s what I told him. I said ‘I’m gonna always be here for you no matter what, I’m going to always fight for you, and I’m gonna always do whatever I can to help the team win.’ And he said the same thing.”
Anthony Davis said the issue was over a pick-and-roll scheme miscommunication. He says they talked about it in the locker room at halftime and they’re fine.
LeBron James led all Lakers in scoring in tonight’s loss to the Suns, finishing the night with 25 points on 8 for 18 (44%) shooting from the field and 5 of 9 (55%) shooting from the three-point arc. The Lakers' two losses have overshadowed how stellar James has shot from three. In the first two games of the season, James is shooting 50% from beyond the arc, going 10–20 (50%) in both losses.
James spoke after tonight’s loss about trying to figure out how to win games while trying to learn how to play together with the new roster, saying:
“You’re going to get frustrated at times because you know what you’re capable of. We’ve got to do a better job of not allowing calls we think should have gone our way affect us on the floor.”
After an explosive first game scoring 33 points in the season-opener, Anthony Davis struggled to try to find his rhythm in tonight’s loss, finishing second in scoring for the Lakers. In 38 minutes, Davis scored 22 points on 8 of 18 (44%) shooting from the floor, starting 1–6 (16.6%) to start the game. Half of Davis’ points came from the foul line, going 10–11 (91%).
Russell Westbrook was one assist away from getting his first triple-double in tonight’s loss to the Suns, finishing with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists in his 34 minutes of action. Westbrook shot 40% (6–15) overall from the field and struggled from the charity strike and three-point arc, going 3 for 8 (37%) from the line and 0 for 3 from three.
The Lakers will play this Sunday at home at 6:30 against the Memphis Grizzlies team, led by young star Ja Morant in a very winnable game. Look for the Lakers to come out with a lot of energy and try to secure their first win of the season.