Los Angeles Lakers eclipse Suns, move into fifth in Western Conference

The Los Angeles Lakers kept their roll going, defeating the Phoenix Suns on Sunday afternoon. Check out our four lessons from the win!

The Los Angeles Lakers came out Sunday in their traditional white uniforms in a Sunday brunch match against the Phoenix Suns in a game that was supposed to be a blowout. It was a blowout, it just took a while to get the expected results.

The Los Angles Lakers overcame yet another slow start to blow the Suns back to Phoenix with a 120-96 beat down.

After turning the ball over four times before the fans could sit down and get comfortable in their seats, the Suns ran out to a 25-8 lead.

Former Lakers fan favorite, Trevor Ariza, came out strong early, knocking down three 3-pointers and he was supported with some strong aggressive play by Josh Jackson.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1069379436011696128

The Lakers righted the ship and closed the lead to 31-21 by the end of the quarter.  Then with an early push from Brandon Ingram and get this…MICHAEL BEASLEY, who combined to set off a 10-0 run that got the Lakers back even.

After that, the game pretty much was over as the Lakers outscored the Suns 40-15 in the second quarter. Following that, the only source of entertainment was Moritz Wagner‘s performance (more on that later) and if the fans were going to get free tacos.

I mean, who really thought the Suns had a chance after this play, with LeBron James setting up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the corner for a 3-pointer.

Boy, what a difference a month makes huh? Remember the last time the Lakers played the Suns?

Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Takeaways from the win against Suns

The Los Angeles Lakers destroyed the Suns 131-113 being led by Lance Stephenson's 23 points. A total team effort by the young guys!

The team was winless at the time, dealing with the suspensions of Rajon Rondo and Brandon Ingram. How about that overtime game against the Spurs when LeBron James missed those two free throws and that jumper at the end? The Lakers, at the time, were 0-3 and the sky was falling in Laker land.

Now with this win, the Los Angeles Lakers are 1/2 game behind the NBA champs, the Golden State Warriors. How significant is this? The last time the Lakers were this successful, Kobe Bryant had a two good Achilles tendons!

Look, folks, let’s be clear here, this is the Phoenix Suns. I’m not saying that they are tanking but I would place a good-sized bet that there were a lot of eyes glued to the Duke/Stetson game on Saturday. They are in the running for the Zion Williamson sweepstakes. Let’s not forget that.

But, the Lakers are supposed to smoke teams like these when they play them. They started slowly, but overall, did not play down to the competition. The blowout allowed LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma and the other major players a ton of rest after playing three games in four days. Now, the Lakers can tack on more rest before they play San Antonio on Wednesday.

There are some things that the Lakers and their fans need to watch out for going forward, however!

But, it really is amazing what the Lakers can accomplish when they compete, play hard and defend.

Let’s get to it…

Here are my three lessons!