The Lakers were crushed by the league leaders the Suns (111-140). Phoenix had a very strong first quarter, winning it by 26 points (48-22) and building a commanding leader for the rest of the game.
James Worthy, who won three NBA championships as a Laker, broke down what happened in the game afterwards. According to him, all of Los Angeles shortcomings became visible in this game.
“Phoenix, as everyone has seen all year long, they’re a very well oiled team. And they were without their leader, they were without Chris Paul and they still seemed to flourish,” Worthy said on Spectrum SportsNet.
“The Lakers had a problem. Anytime they go small ball they have a problem with bigs in the paint and did again tonight with Ayton just tore them up in the paint, Geeter.
“It was 76 points in the paint and the Phoenix Suns had 36 assists. So that’s how they play. You don’t know who’s going to score, you don’t know who it’s going to be. Obviously they have a closer in Booker but this kid right here [Ayton] was in the paint as well as the rest of the team.
“We’ve talked about the Lakers shortcomings till they blew in their face, lack of defense, turn the ball over and it was just another example of not just having any endurance. From the beginning to the end Phoenix was a head by a lot of points.”
