Three days after losing a 22-point lead on the road, the Phoenix Suns gave the Lakers a dose of their own medicine with a comeback win of their own at Footprint Center.
On today’s episode (audio only, blame the technical difficulties), we discussed how everything clicked for the Suns in their win.
In particular, they held the Lakers to just 18 free-throw attempts, played their best defensive game of the season, and got huge games from their biggest stars as Devin Booker and Kevin Durant combined for 63 points on 51 percent shooting from the field.
But the biggest dragon they slayed in this rematch against the Lakers was in how they limited Anthony Davis. AD had a huge first quarter before rolling his ankle and taking a few rough falls, after which he appeared hobbled and was far less aggressive. The center took just 14 shots in the final three quarters after 10 field goal attempts and 16 points in the first period alone.
On the other end, the Suns used Davis’ versatility against him. Rather than trying to keep Davis away from the play, the Suns instead targeted him on switches. They invited him to guard their best players in Booker and Durant, trusting that they could beat him downhill and into the paint.
The plan paid off, as the Suns matched the Lakers with 42 points in the paint and got to the line 20 times despite facing the fearsome AD.
At the same time, Mike Budenholzer showed his first signs of trimming the rotation as both Oso Ighodaro and Monte Morris were effectively out of the rotation.
The biggest rotation decision came when Budenholzer benched Jusuf Nurkic from the second quarter on, which we will discuss on Wednesday’s episode of Locked On Suns.
