Game Preview: The Suns play the Lakers…again!

It’s the second time in three games. Can Phoenix make amends?

Who: Phoenix Suns (2-1) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (3-0)

When: 7:00pm Arizona Time

Where: Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona

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

Listen: KMVP 98.7

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We are less than a week into the season, and the Suns are playing the Lakers for the second time. After playing them twice in the preseason. I may be alone here, but aren’t you ready to see someone else? I feel like I’ve seen way too much of Austin Reaves this October, and it makes me uncomfortable. Ugh. Imagine being a Lakers fan.

The Suns enter 2-1 and their only loss was at the hands of the Lakers on Friday night, a game I assume many on the socials would like to soon forget. Not because of the game itself, but because of the way they were lining up to jump off a cliff after game two of the season. As Kevin Durant once told me: “Do better. Be better”.

So re-enter the Lakers, who are flying high after going 3-0 in their first week of games. Oh, ESPN execs must be more excited than Bronny finding out that he’s going to be drafted after a below-average year at USC. This is the storyline they want, and so far this season, they’re getting it. The Lakers propose a challenge for the Suns, but tonight provides an opportunity to enact some revenge and hand the Lakers their first loss.

Probable Starters

Injury Report

Suns

• Bradley Beal — QUESTIONABLE (Right Elbow Soreness)
• Josh Okogie — OUT (Right Hamstring Strain)

Lakers

• Jarred Vanderbilt — OUT (Right Foot)
• Christian Wood — OUT (Left Knee)

Uniform Matchup

What to Watch For

You can’t teach size, and that is what we’ll be looking at against the Lakers.

Los Angeles currently ranks fourth in the NBA for points scored in the paint, with a significant 50% of their total points coming from this area. In contrast, the Phoenix Suns — now known for their three-point shooting (woo hoo!) — only manage to score 35.3% of their points in the paint, placing them 26th in the league.

Anthony Davis has consistently been a thorn in the side for both the Suns and Jusuf Nurkic. Right now, he’s leading the league in scoring, averaging an impressive 34.0 points per game. Davis excels both inside and outside, attacking the rim with ferocity and benefiting from the whistle, as he leads the league with 15.0 free throw attempts per game. He’s also hitting 40% from beyond the arc, though he takes only 1.7 shots from deep per game.

Nurkic is in for a challenging matchup. In his 22 career games against Davis, he’s averaged 11.3 points and 10.3 rebounds but has also picked up an average of 3 fouls. In comparison, Davis puts up 24.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game against Nurkic. It’s shaping up to be a tough night for the Suns’ center.

Key to a Suns Win

It’s easy to say rebounding. It’s easy to say control Anthony Davis. Yes, both of these need to occur.

But it’s live ball turnovers that determined the outcome of their last affair, a 123-116 win for the Lakers. The Suns committed 17 turnovers last Friday, but seeing as the majority of them were live ball turnovers, they led to 26 Laker points. They gave up 28 fast break points.

Phoenix is slowly carving out an identity for themselves. They are a better defensive team than last year thus far (thanks, Ryan Dunn!), currently sitting with the 6th best defensive rating at 108.3. They will need to lean into this aspect of their identity, especially in the fourth quarter.

LeBron James has mastered the “wait for it…wait for it…go!” ability, and in the fourth, he likes to explode. He did just that on Saturday night against the Kings, helping the Lakers claw back into the game and win 131-127.

Control the ball. Play Q4 defense. Win the game.

Prediction

The Los Angeles Dodgers are playing the New York Yankees in the World Series tonight. If you know me, I’m a “Go Dodgers” kinda guy, but I will be at the arena covering the Suns game tonight. Why do I bring this up? I’m hoping that the majority of Lakers fans will stay at home to watch the Dodgers play in the Bronx rather than show up to the Footprint Center tonight.

It is one of the annoying things to see, a Suns arena bathed in yellow. But tonight? That ain’t happening. There will be no annoying “Let’s Go Lakers” chants. The Suns will take care of business behind a raucous Phoenix crowd. Oh, and hopefully the Dodgers go up 3-0 in the World Series.

Suns 116, Lakers 112