LeBron James, Lakers Give Fans Hope with Win as Suns Rest Kevin Durant

The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t been relegated to the play-in tournament just yet.

 

Los Angeles remained alive in the race for a top-six playoff seed in the Western Conference with a 121-107 victory over the shorthanded Phoenix Suns on Friday at Crypto.com Arena. The Purple and Gold are 5-1 in their last six games and appear to be turning the corner ahead of the postseason.

 

They didn’t face a team operating on all cylinders, though, as Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and T.J. Warren were all out.

 

The Lakers countered with a balanced attack, as LeBron James (16 points, six rebounds, six assists), Anthony Davis (14 points and 21 rebounds), D’Angelo Russell (24 points), Austin Reaves (22 points) and Malik Beasley (21 points) were five of six players to score in double figures, which led to plenty of praise on social media:

This was not the heavyweight showdown of superstars once promised with so many sidelined for the Suns. That figured to make things straightforward for the Lakers, especially at home, but that wasn’t the case in the early going.

 

The visitors set the tone and led at halftime with Cameron Payne aggressively hunting his shot, Josh Okogie hitting from deep and the bench combination of Terrence Ross, Saben Lee and Jock Landale providing a spark. Los Angeles appeared to be going through the motions.

 

It also didn’t help that Davis and James struggled from the floor, shooting a combined 10-of-31, but Russell, Reaves and Beasley kept the Lakers within striking

distance.

 

Those efforts proved key because the Lakers finally pulled away in the second half. James overcame his early struggles in the fourth quarter with a dunk and a three, Davis dominated on the boards without having to worry about Ayton, and the victors did just enough to make sure the final few minutes weren’t stressful.

 

It wasn’t the prettiest win of the season, but Los Angeles prevailed without its two stars playing unstoppable basketball. That should Q10 1opplreally give the team and its fans hope amid the final push for playoff positioning.

 

Scott Polacek:

bleacherreport.com