The Return of the California Bulldozer
After a four-game road losing streak, the Lakers desperately needed a win in their first game back home. And Phoenix was the perfect opponent for the job—an uninspired, broken team (or rather, a non-team) with no chemistry, no winning mentality, and a salary cap buried under bad contracts. Bradley Beal is getting paid $50+ million per year while playing at best like a $10 million player. The locker room issues were evident even during the game—one of the early timeouts saw Kevin Durant animatedly arguing with the coach. And yet, despite all of this, the Suns still have a chance to crawl into the NBA Play-In Tournament, mostly thanks to Dallas, where they’re running out of healthy players. But let’s leave Phoenix aside—this game was about the Lakers.
From the opening minutes, Los Angeles took control, building a dominant first-quarter lead (31-15). After that, the goal was simply not to break what they had built and maintain the comfortable advantage—which they did, albeit with some struggles. The Suns cut the lead to eight points a couple of times in the second half, but the Lakers responded immediately—either with key three-pointers or solid defensive stops, preventing Phoenix from getting any closer.
Doncic was once again the offensive leader, dropping 30 points and nearly securing a triple-double (just two assists shy). Austin Reaves provided strong support, finishing with 28 points. Jaxson Hayes had an excellent game as well—19 points, 6 rebounds, and 8/10 shooting. I really like how he finds openings for pick-and-rolls with the guards and finishes alley-oops at the rim.
However, not everyone performed well. Finney-Smith, Goodwin, and the bench were disappointing—too few points, too many mistakes. And seriously, why are they giving the ball to Vanderbilt in the corner? That’s almost a guaranteed brick. Koloko couldn’t finish at the rim, and Knecht struggled with his shot—but he’s young, so that’s forgivable. Luckily, this was Phoenix and not a team like Minnesota—otherwise, the Lakers might not have gotten away with this performance.
LeBron James and Rui Hachimura need to return as soon as possible. James was already warming up in practice yesterday morning, which is a good sign.
The Lakers’ next game is on Tuesday, a rescheduled matchup against San Antonio, which was originally postponed due to wildfires in January. The Spurs will be without Victor Wembanyama for the rest of the season, which is no reason to relax—but it’s a great opportunity to start a new winning streak.
