The Los Angeles Lakers (hereinafter referred to as Lakers), who hired Austin Reeves (24) as a starter, broke the chain of six consecutive losses against the Phoenix Suns (hereinafter referred to as Phoenix).
The Lakers beat Phoenix by 122-111 and 11 points in the NBA 2022-23 season regular league home game held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA on the morning of the 23rd (Korean time).
With this, the Lakers, who had 36 wins and 37 losses, rose to 10th place in the Western Conference. In the game, Anthony Davis scored 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, Austin Reeves scored 25 points and 11 assists, and D’Angelo Russell scored 26 points and 6 assists.
Phoenix, who suffered a losing streak, had Devin Booker with 33 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, Chris Paul with 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and Landry Shamet with 15 points and 3 rebounds, including 3 3-pointers.
The Lakers hired Reeves, who has been playing well recently, as their starter in place of Malik Beasley. Phoenix also added Tori Craig and Bismack Biyombo to the starting roster in place of Kevin Durant and Deandre Ayton, who were both sidelined due to injuries.
Reeves showed good performance from the first quarter. Reeves lived up to Lakers expectations by scoring 10 points in that quarter alone. However, Phoenix took a 26-23, 3-point lead thanks to Booker and Paul’s mid-range games and Tori Craig’s surprise performance.
Beasley, who played off the bench behind Reeves, succeeded in saving face by making consecutive 3-pointers. Shamet also responded to Beasley with an outer gun. Coming off the bench after the break, Reeves provided Troy Brown Jr.’s메이저놀이터 open 3-pointer and even assisted Jared Vanderbilt’s short jumper. In addition, Reeves, who scored directly, gave the team a 59-52, 7-point lead.
Russell, the Lakers’ main ball handler, got off to a good start by hitting a 3-pointer. Here, Davis also successfully brought the flow to the Lakers with several successful one-on-one attacks. However, Phoenix, who was chasing after Paul’s mid-range game, took advantage of Wenyan Gabriel’s mistake and scored 8 points in a row. As a result, the Lakers faced the fourth quarter with the score narrowing to 88-85, 3 points.
Reeves and Schroeder still played well, but Booker, who had warmed up from the third quarter, scored 7 points in a row, including a pull-up 3-point shot. In addition, Shamet, who had a good performance on the bench, succeeded in chasing up to 1 point by assisting the goal. After the timeout, Russell succeeded in an Andone play, and Davis also made a one-on-one attack against Biyombo. In addition, Russell received Davis’ kick-out pass and even put in an open three-point shot.
Reeves, who induced Paul’s fifth foul, perfectly blocked Shamet’s breakthrough. In addition, Davis, who regained his aggressiveness, also scored a free throw against Craig, and Russell hit a floater following a hostage dribble. Booker still struggled, but Paul failed to attack Gabriel. This led to Vanderbilt’s scoring under Reeves’ pass, and Russell also actively took advantage of the team foul.
One minute before the end of the game, Shamet induced a jump ball, but Craig failed to finish with a 3-pointer. In response, Reeves closed the game with a wedge free throw and an alley-oop by Bandbilt. Afterwards, the Lakers beat Phoenix by 122-111, 11 points.