Lakers at Suns
The Los Angeles Lakers continue to spin their wheels and hope to take a step in the right direction when they visit the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. Los Angeles has lost 11 of its last 16 contests and collapsed near the end of Friday's 131-120 loss to visiting Milwaukee.
The Lakers looked en route to an impressive win over the NBA's best team until Milwaukee closed the game with a 15-2 run. "We kind of fell apart at the end there," Lakers coach Luke Walton said during his postgame press conference. "We have to take games, and we have to step up and make plays. I thought we did that for the most of the night, and then we did not." The Suns have dropped 18 of their last 19 games after suffering a 130-116 home loss to New Orleans on Friday in a contest in which they gave up 74 second-half points. "I feel like we played to the energy of the game," Phoenix shooting guard Devin Booker told reporters. "I feel like both teams early on didn't have a lot of energy, and we fed into that and it was a downward spiral since then."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles), FS Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (30-32): Los Angeles received big efforts from LeBron James (31 points, 10 assists), Brandon Ingram (31 points) and Rajon Rondo (20 points, nine assists, eight rebounds) but wasn't able to land a victory that would have pushed its record back to .500. "We had our chances," James told reporters. "We just broke down individually, down the stretch defensively. We had too many breakdowns, one-on-one breakdowns." Ingram has been on a tear with five straight 20-point efforts and is averaging 28.4 during that stretch.
ABOUT THE SUNS (12-51): Booker sprained his left big toe during Thursday's practice but wasn't hindered against the Pelicans, scoring 26 points on just 6-of-17 shooting. Booker provided the game's individual highlight when he drove through the lane and skied high to deliver a posterizing dunk over New Orleans' Anthony Davis. Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 19 points but also struggled with his shooting by making 8-of-22 shots, including 1-of-8 from 3-point range.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Lakers are 3-0 against the Suns this season, prevailing by an average of 18.7 points.
2. Phoenix backup SG Troy Daniels is 7-for-9 from 3-point range over his last two contests and averaging 14.5 points during the span.
3. Los Angeles reserve SG Lance Stephenson (toe) could miss his second straight game.