LOS ANGELES – After beating the Lakers 114-104 on Tuesday without their top scorer and All-Star Devin Booker going down the stretch, the Phoenix Suns said they put a stamp of legitimacy on their season.
“I think Jae Crowder said it better: we improved tonight,” Suns coach Monty Williams said after the game. “Take confidence when a guy like Book doesn’t play or throw himself and you can take a game out on the road at the end of a trip. This is a recipe to mail and this group has shown a lot of resistance, but that goes suppose a great victory of the character and we improved.
“I think we played well tonight, but we probably have more confidence that we can play a game without Devin or Chris [Paul] saving the day “.
Booker was thrown for picking up two technical fouls with 7:10 remaining in the third quarter and Phoenix ahead 70-63. Booker had 17 points at the time to lead the Suns.
“Booker received his first technical foul for continuous complaints and then received his second technical foul, and as a rule was expelled, for addressing profane language to a game officer,” said crew chief Marc Davis on ESPN as part of an after-game group report.
The Lakers, who played without Anthony Davis for the eighth straight game due to injuries to his right leg and also missed starting center Marc Gasol (safety and health protocols) and Kyle Kuzma (bruised right heel), saw the expulsion naturally as an opportunity to re-enter the contest. But the Suns doubled their lead from seven to 14 for the three-minute mark in the fourth quarter without Booker.
“I don’t know if it was a big effect, other than what we felt like we had a chance to win a game we were down on,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “It didn’t work that way.”
The win meant a 3-0 trip for Phoenix and improved the Suns record to 15-3 in their last 18 games. They also jumped to LA in the standings, moving to No. 2 in the Western Conference with the win.
“We tried to improve every game, but today I honestly felt we improved,” said Crowder, who, with 15 points on the 5-of-8 shot, was one of only five to score in double digits. “I walked into the locker room and told the boys. Booker left in the third quarter and we could just have folded or been able to overcome the challenge and we decided to step up.”
The Phoenix bench outperformed LA reserves from 38 to 27, and the Suns shot 16 vs. 29 from line 3 (55.2%) compared to the Lakers ’11-to-31 mark from the bottom ( 35.5%).
“I can’t be too happy on the farm, man,” said Suns striker Mikal Bridges. “We know what we’re doing; we know we’re going to get better. We just have to keep progressing and getting better.
“Any team can beat each other and if we relax, there are a lot of difficult teams. Even teams with few records will play hard, so we have to improve, not relax and keep playing.”
Phoenix has one more game before the All-Star break, at home against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.