The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament.
These two teams squared off for the third time already this season with the Lakers beating the Suns in group play to earn the top overall seed in the knockout stages. The winner of the game would advance to the semifinals of the In-Season Tournament where they would play the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night in Las Vegas while the loser would be eliminated from the tournament and play the Sacramento Kings in a regular season game on Friday night.
The star power was out with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker all playing, but it was the Lakers who came out on top with a 106-103 victory to advance in the In-Season Tournament.
D’Angelo Russell knocked down a wing triple to get the scoring started although the Suns then responded with six straight points before LeBron James made a layup.
The Lakers were attacking the rim early with ease, forcing Jusuf Nurkic into two early fouls and Frank Vogel into an early timeout with his team trailing 16-11.
Anthony Davis was key for the Lakers early, scoring 14 first-quarter points, including a thunderous dunk as time expired, to give L.A. a 33-23 lead going into the second.
Rui Hachimura returned after a five-game absence due to a nasal fracture and looked good early, driving for a layup and then draining a triple. The Lakers built a 15-point lead before the Suns responded with a 7-0 run, forcing Darvin Ham to call a timeout.
The Suns were able to continue their run to get their deficit all the way down to four before Russell made a 3 to end the Lakers’ drought.
That helped reengage the Lakers for another run to end the half as they locked back in defensively, forcing Phoenix into more turnovers, while attacking the offensive glass on the other end. James and Davis each finished easy looks inside to end the half, giving the Lakers a 59-47 lead going into the locker room.
L.A. came out flat to begin the third quarter, allowing Phoenix to get right back in the game with a 10-0 run. Grayson Allen had eight of those points, including back-to-back 3-pointers.
A timeout didn’t stop the run as the Lakers continued to struggle offensively and the Suns took the lead before James finally made a layup to restore order.
Austin Reaves went on a bit of a heater to end the third quarter with 14 of L.A.’s 24 points although the game stayed close with the Lakers taking a slim 83-82 lead into the fourth.
James looked to take control to begin the fourth, driving to the basket for some easy ones and then drilling a 3 to score seven straight and put the Lakers up five.
The stars are stars for a reason though and Durant came out of a timeout and buried back-to-back 3s to give his team another lead going into the final minutes.
From there, James and Davis started going to work in the pick-and-roll. Both Booker and Durant were in foul trouble with five apiece so the Lakers clearly wanted to attack. James finished a layup to give L.A. a 102-97 lead going into the final two minutes.
After buckets by Durant and Booker, the Lakers had a one-point lead. Have no fear though as Reaves was there to drill a triple to put L.A. up four.
Durant responded with a reverse layup but Davis was able to make one at the line to seal the victory.
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