Phoenix loses by 22 points – Carswellfamilyfoundation

LOS ANGELES – Bradley Beal adjusted his hat so it fit perfectly, but his scowl remained the same.

Phoenix Suns blew a 22-point first-half lead in a 123-116 loss Friday night. Los Angeles Lakers in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,997 at Crypto.com Arena, leaving Beal upset over the team’s first loss of the season.

“It’s very frustrating,” Beal said. “We beat them by 15, 20. They were all confused. We kept them exactly where we wanted them. They didn’t really have an answer to that question. We’ve calmed down a lot.”

Phoenix (1-1) lost 97-68 after taking a 48-26 lead on Beal’s 3-pointer with 9:43 left in the first half.

Kevin Durant scored a team-high 30 points, Devin Booker scored 23 on 21 shot attempts and Beal added 15 and had nine assists. The Suns committed 17 turnovers, leading the Lakers to 26 points.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with a dominant 35 points, shooting 13 of 17 from the line. He made the same number of free throws as the Suns, who made just two more free throws than him.

Austin Reeves scored 26 points on 5-of-7 shooting from long range, and LeBron James added 21 points and eight assists. The Lakers finished the game 29 of 39 from the line.

Here are three takeaways from Friday’s defeat. The Suns will play their third game in four days on Saturday against Dallas (1-0) in their home opener at Footprint Center at 7 p.m.

Stopped sharing the ball

Phoenix committed 14 turnovers in the first quarter on 15 field goal attempts with the ball moving quickly and the player moving. The Suns were hounded and kicked for open looks and started without hesitation.

They finished the game with 35 turnovers on 42 field goals, but reverted to one-on-one basketball in the second and third quarters, resulting in 17 turnovers.

The Suns have a better assist-to-turnover ratio in Tyus Jones, but Booker, Durant and Beal are still initiating more offense than they should have been when Jones was signed to help fix that problem that arose last season. However, Jones attempted just four assists and two turnovers on Friday.

He may be trying to figure out different lineups and rotations, but when a team goes from unstoppable to sloppy, it raises more questions in terms of adherence to the game plan and why Phoenix continues to play loose basketball with a true point guard on the team.

When the point guard starts the attack, the Big 3 can move without the ball to get free or take their positions and be ready to shoot. When the Suns try to go one-on-one, it usually results in tough wins, misses or turnovers.

These mistakes allowed the Lakers to come out and run. Their fast-break points increased from five in the first quarter to 28 for the game.

The Lakers gained confidence and began hitting threes at 14-of-27 for the game.

When Reeves and James hit four straight threes to tie the game within one, 67-66, with 9:20 left in the third, the Suns were in trouble.

3 more please

Phoenix made 11 threes in the first quarter, resulting in eight. This allowed them to score 44 goals, which was their pre-season average, but they only scored 26 more before the end of the game.

You see, it’s easy to take three when you’re playing big. Everyone is having fun and celebrating. Then, as the Lakers began to tighten up the game, the Suns gave up a few threes.

Coach Mike Budenholzer believed the Suns weren’t getting stops, which boosted their offense. Yes, but they also weren’t looking to move the ball, giving up their lead.

It was as if they were playing two different styles. The Lakers closed better in the second half with a three-point lead, but the separation was enough to keep putting them ahead.

Ironically, the Lakers caught fire at 3. After shooting 1 of 5 from long range in the first quarter, the Lakers ended up going 14 of 27 for the game.

Budenholzer is still figuring out lineups, trying to determine who plays well with whom. He struck out Beal after Beal cooked in the first half.

Again, Budenholzer is trying to control the timing of his core players, but if everyone has the green light for 3-point shots, the Suns will have to move the ball to make sure they fully maximize those opportunities.

Durant thought the Suns could have made 10 more three-pointers and he could have made six to seven instead of three (he made two). Missing Grayson Allen from their three-point attempts. He missed Friday’s game for personal reasons, as he and his wife expect.

They may leave Los Angeles thinking 17 of 37 is good, but the 3-point shot is probably the best way to avoid going one-on-one.

Durant can make any shot, but the catch and 3 is the best shot for this team because it comes from ball movement. This is the Suns’ best offense, not a one-on-one game, even with three great players going one-on-one.

Free throw discrepancy

At one point, Phoenix was 1-for-2 on free throws while the Lakers were 13-for-18. Los Angeles finished 29-for-39 and Phoenix 15-for-17.

Here’s the thing.

Offensively, the Suns are not a downhill team that attacks the paint. Sure, they made some contact, but not to the point where they made a ton of free throws.

Defensively, the Suns need to do a better job of keeping teams out of the paint off the dribble.

Then there’s Davis, who is a nightmare for anyone, but even more so for the Suns. Last season he got his way with Jusuf Nurkic and started the season with the same success.

Nurkic had a terrible game, scoring just four points, committing four fouls and four turnovers in 18 minutes. It got to the point where Budenholzer made concessions, knowing it wasn’t the ideal move to stop Davis but could help them spread out the Lakers on the other end.

Sound familiar? The Suns lost last year with Durant at the five, but that leaves them vulnerable on the glass and trying to stop Davis.

We return to Nurkic very quickly. He slowed down and entered the season hoping to make more 3-pointers, but then the Suns tried to force him to screen and dive to the rim. This is not his strength.

It might have been better in the pick-and-pop, with Plumlee and rookie Oso Ighodaro diving to the rim.

Any opinion on the current state of the Sun? Contact Suns insider Dwayne Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @DwayneRankin.

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