Anthony Davis 42-point night too much as Los Angeles Lakers top Phoenix Suns
Anthony Davis #AnthonyDavis
Monty Williams has recently seen this before – and that’s not a good thing.
Phoenix has started its last two games without the necessary sense of urgency in his opinion.
The difference is the Suns roared back to beat New York by 23 points Friday night, but weren’t able to do the same against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in their 123-110 loss Sunday night at STAPLES Center.
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“The reality is this is two games in a row where teams have come out with playoff intensity and we haven’t started games well or played well in the first half to have some momentum going into halftime,” Williams said. “We’ve had to come out of halftime and try to dig ourselves out of a semi-hole the other day and then today, from an intensity standpoint, I thought we were way behind.”
The Suns (48-20) are 1-2 in their last three games as they’ve surrendered 42 points in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 32-point loss at Atlanta, 33 Friday night against the Knicks and 30 versus the Lakers in falling behind by 11 after one.
“We just have to come out ready to go,” Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker said. “It’s simple as that. So whatever you have to do to motivate yourself. If you have to talk s–t to yourself, talk s–t to the other team, whatever it is, we just have to do it. There’s no scheme in effort.”
Facing Anthony Davis made matters even worse.
The All-Star big went for a season-high 42 points, going 15-of-17 from the free throw line, in his first game against the Suns this season after missing the first two matchups due to injury Phoenix won.
“I just didn’t think he felt us enough,” Williams said about Davis, who also posted 12 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals. “I thought there were times where he was just looking to the other side as opposed to having a hand in his face even with a guy on him. I just thought he was really comfortable tonight.”
The Suns compounded matters in allowing the Lakers (38-30) to shoot 43.3% from 3 on Mother’s Day and get to the free throw line.
Entering the game 22nd in the NBA in 3-point shooting at 35.2%, Los Angeles erupted for eight 3-pointers on 11 attempts in the third quarter in building a 21-point lead.
As for free throws, Los Angeles attempted 41 and made 32 while Phoenix finished 21-of-25 from the line.
“We started off slow and that’s something you can’t do,” Booker said. “We let them get comfortable. Started letting the refs get to us. I think if we come out with the punch-first mentality, we can take that away.”
The Suns were called for 29 fouls while the Lakers drew 21.
“We kind of got distracted with the refs and sometimes, it hurt us,” Suns point guard Cameron Payne said.
The loss drops Phoenix two games behind Utah (50-18) for the top seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers are currently a seventh seed and could very well face the Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
Los Angeles will most likely have to compete in the play-in tournament featuring the seven through 10 seeds May 18-21. The 7-8 winner receives the seventh seed while the 7-8 loser faces the 9-10 winner for the eighth and final playoff spot in each conference.
“We have to understand that teams are sending a message at this time of the year,” Williams said. “We’ve played playoff teams, played a team we might see in the first round and I felt like they were sending us a message tonight.”
The Lakers sent that message in beating Phoenix for the first time this season despite missing LeBron James (ankle), Dennis Schroder (health/safety protocols) and Kyle Kuzma (back). James is reportedly expected to return this upcoming week.
“We know the team we can be,” Davis said. “I think we’re just staying positive and as we play the right way and see the ball go through the rim and see us getting stops, our team gets very confident and we can only imagine when we get all our players back the team that we can be.”
Trailing by as many as 23 points early in the fourth, the Suns made a furious comeback to get within seven as Payne scored nine of his career-high 24 points in the fourth on 4-of-4 shooting (1-of-1 from 3).
“I feel like I was just trying to get downhill,” Payne said. “Honestly it came from just trying to create.”
Down 115-108, after an Deandre Ayton basket with 3:46 remaining, Phoenix only scored two points the remainder of the game against the NBA’s top defense.
The Lakers limited Booker to 21 points on 5-of-14 shooting as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drew the defensive assignment on the two-time All-Star.
“I feel like this was one of my best defensive games,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Felt like I was just engaged the whole game and just ready. Something just clicked. It’s playoff time and we’ve got to get these games. We’ve got to buckle down defensively, which we lean our hat on, always. We’ve just got to be able to maintain it.”
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Anthony Davis 42-point night too much as Los Angeles Lakers top Phoenix Suns