Lakers dismantled by Suns in LeBron's historic night.
The Lakers dropped their 9th straight road game in tonight's loss to the high-powered Suns, surrounding 79 first-half points and giving up 140 total points, falling to Phoenix 140–111 to drop their season record eight games under .500 at 29–38.
Turning the ball over 19 times in tonight's loss, defensively, the Lakers played one of their worst outings against a potential playoff matchup, allowing 28 fastbreak points and 76 total points in the paint.
Head coach Frank Vogel spoke on the Lakers defeat to the Suns, saying:
"This is a tough matchup to play small ball against, but we definitely have to be better than we were tonight." Later saying: "Nothing we did tonight was good enough."
The Suns Devin Booker led the way for Phoenix, leading his team in scoring with 30 points and 10 assists, shooting 48% overall on 12-for-25 shooting from the floor in 31 minutes played.
In his second assist of the night at the start of the 2nd quarter, LeBron James recorded his 10,000th career assist, becoming the only player in NBA history with 10,000+ points, 10,000+ rebounds, and 10,000+ assists in his hall of fame career.
After the game, James spoke on being the first player with 10,000 points, rebounds, and assists in league history, explaining:
"I get a loss for words when things like this happen to me just thinking of where I've come from. To sit alone at a stat is pretty cool. It doesn't quite make sense to me."
In tonight's loss, James scored a game-high 31 points on 50% (10-for-20) shooting overall and went 5-for-11 (45%) from three, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists in 30 minutes of action.
Scoring 13 points on 50% (5-for-10) shooting in 27 minutes, Malik Monk spoke on what he felt from tonight's big loss, frustratingly explaining:
"Sometimes I don't think we try enough. We gotta get it together, man, that's all I got to say. Sick of saying that shit, though." Later saying: "We got to throw that one out the window. You got next game and not worry about what you did last game."
Carmelo Anthony was the Lakers' second-leading scorer, finishing with 18 points in 18 minutes on 54% (6-for-11) shooting from the floor., knocking down 4-for-7 from beyond the arc.
The Lakers' next matchup comes back home at Crypto on Monday against the Toronto Raptors, who sit at 37–30 on the season and test for the Lakers to climb their way back into the win column.