In a game that LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and Austin Reaves all sat out with injury, the Lakers' two-game winning streak came to a halt on Monday night at the hands of the Suns 130-104.
On some nights, the other team just has more talent available and when that talent plays to their abilities on both sides of the floor, they're able to control the terms of engagement and outplay their opponent. That was the case with the Suns who, even without Devin Booker, played a physical and tactically smart game on both ends of the floor to keep the Lakers at bay and win comfortably.
The Lakers were led by Dennis Schröder, who took advantage of the extra offensive opportunities afforded by Lebron, AD, and Russ all being out to pour in 30 points on 12-19 shooting from the field and 4-4 from the foul line.
Dennis scored well from all over the floor, getting downhill to finish in the paint while also getting into a very good rhythm from the outside with his jumper. Add in his four rebounds and four assists, and Dennis did a good job of captaining the Lakers offense and showing he could take on more usage and score well even against some very good individual defenders.
Besides Dennis, Thomas Bryant and Lonnie Walker had dual 16 point nights. Bryant came out hot from behind the arc and finished 2-5 from deep. Lonnie, meanwhile, had some challenges finishing from the mid-range, but knocked down three of his six shots from deep. All in all, the Lakers hit 12 of their 28 attempts from three (42.9%) -- a strong percentage, though on relatively low volume.
This level of shooting, however, couldn't keep up with what the Suns brought to the table this game. Phoenix connected on 20 of their 39 three-point shot attempts in this one, many of which came on open looks. The Suns used dribble penetration and post ups to get the ball into the paint, and then kicked the ball out to the likes of Damion Lee (5-10) and Torey Craig (4-4) who shot a combined 9-14 from distance.
Add this level of shot making to the fact that the Suns won the possession game via a 15-10 offensive rebound advantage and a 14-8 edge in turnovers, and it was all just too much for the depleted Lakers to overcome on the 2nd night of a back to back on the road.
The Lakers will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Sacramento to play the Kings.