Game Preview: Suns face Lakers, look to start season 2-0

The Phoenix Suns look to improve to 2-0 on the season in Los Angeles on Friday night.

Who: Phoenix Suns (1-0) @ Los Angeles Lakers (1-0)

When: 7:00 pm Arizona Time

Where: Crypto.com Arena — Los Angeles, California

Watch: ESPN, Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports

Listen: KMVP 98.7

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The Phoenix Suns are 1-0 after an ugly road win at the Clippers’ brand-new Intuit Dome in Inglewood. They fought hard and battled through some adversity and turnovers to secure a win after a strong 4th quarter and overtime session.

The Suns will travel 30 minutes north from Inglewood to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles to take on the 1-0 Lakers. Phoenix will look to leave California 2-0 as they prepare for the Mavericks in their home opener tomorrow night at the Footprint Center.

Phoenix met the Lakers twice during the preseason, splitting the two contests including an overtime thriller where rookie Dalton Knecht went nuclear to close out a road win for the Lakers. The Suns have won their last two regular-season meetings against LA and finished last season 2-3 against the Lakers including a loss in the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals.

Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Probable Starters

Injury Report

Suns

• Grayson Allen — PROBABLE (Right Achilles Soreness)
• Bradley Beal — PROBABLE (Right Shoulder Soreness)
• Josh Okogie — OUT (Right Hamstring Strain)

Lakers

• Jalen Hood-Schifino — DOUBTFUL (illness)
• Christian Koloko — OUT (return to competition reconditioning)
• Jarred Vanderbilt — OUT (right foot surgery recovery)
• Christian Wood — OUT (right knee surgery recovery)

Uniform Matchup

What to Watch For

How does Book respond?

While he was efficient in his shooting, Devin Booker struggled to generate looks against Ty Lue’s defense. The Clippers did a nice job of taking him out of his comfort zone and the Lakers will try to do the same.

Booker finished with 15 points on 5-9 shooting in 32 minutes and fouled out late in the game, missing the final minutes and overtime. Bradley Beal kept the Suns offense afloat throughout the game with an efficient 24-point outing, and Durant’s heroics late helped secure the tough win.

That said, the Suns will need their star to play aggressively early and often if they want to pull off another tough road win against LeBron and co. History suggests he is due for a big game following a “dud”.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Key to a Suns Win

Stop turning the ball over

This one is simple. It’s a theme that (so far) looks like it has carried over from last season. Tyus Jones and Monte Morris did their jobs, combining for 10 assists and 0 turnovers. The rest of the team had 22 turnovers to just 15 assists and that is unacceptable.

The unforced errors and losing the ball off the dribble constantly must end. It’s not an overreaction from “one game” as this issue persisted all of last season for this squad. The good news is that it was a season opener with a playoff atmosphere in a new environment (arena) for the Suns. There is hope we can chalk it up to that. Let’s just hope to see that number chopped in half tonight.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Contain Anthony Davis

Davis had his way with a tough Minnesota defense in the season opener, dropping 36 points and 16 rebounds in the win. The Suns do not have a ton of bodies to throw at him to slow him down, so Jusuf Nurkic and Mason Plumlee will have their hands full. It would not be surprising to see those guys get in foul trouble early which could lead to some Oso Ighodaro minutes.

The Suns will need to play defense by committee to protect the interior against the likes of Davis and James getting downhill and drawing fouls. Along with protecting the paint, closing out on their shooters is vital with all the attention their two stars draw.

Keep Launching Threes.

The Suns connected on 15 of 39 three-point attempts (39.5%) against the Clippers on Wednesday night. The big three did the heavy lifting in that percentage, nailing the majority of those efficiently.

The bad news is that the rest of the team combined to shoot 5/22 from three, which is 22.7%. Not ideal! They need to continue to let it fly though, especially Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones, and Monte Morris. Getting at (or near) the 40-attempt mark should be the goal for this Suns squad all season long.

Prediction

The Suns clean some stuff up, look a lot more organized, and get the road kill in Staples Crypto after a bounceback game from Devin Booker, who goes for an efficient 32-ball.

Suns 117, Lakers 111