LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers saw their seven-game win streak snapped on Monday following their 125-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns. After a decent start to the first quarter that saw both teams tied at 31, the Lakers were outscored 94-77 the rest of the game. It was an uncharacteristic game from the Lakers compared to the way they had been playing during the win streak, and that was why head coach JJ Redick had to bring up Space Jam when talking about the loss.
“Maybe there was brain fog from three in four nights, I don’t know. I don’t remember ever talking about going under versus lasers and [Collin] Gillespie’s making threes and Royce O’Neal’s making threes, I don’t know. It’s a weird sort of thing,” Redick said. “It’s like the Monstars taking over people that you’ve grown to coach, and they’re not doing anything that they normally do. It’s weird.”
A big reason for the Lakers’ loss was turnovers. The Lakers turned the ball over 21 times compared to only 11 for the Suns. That led to 32 points for the Suns including 28 fast break points. Luka Doncic was one of the main culprits in that regard with nine of those turnovers.
Following the game, Doncic took full responsibility for the loss. Doncic started out the game on a hot streak, but admitted that he needed to take better care of the ball.
“Yeah, that was my fault. No way I can have nine turnovers in a game,” Doncic said. “In that second quarter, instead of just getting the shots, instead of shooting the ball, I was trying to get involved, but there’s no way I should have nine turnovers.”
The Lakers trailed by double digits, 66-52, by halftime, and they were never able to cut the lead to single digits at any moment in the second half. There were times when it appeared as if the Lakers might string together a run, but Redick explained the difficulty in trying to correct poor play.
“The basketball gods reward you, and they also punish you,” Redick said. “So in the moments when we had a chance to be rewarded, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do and we got punished. And that was throughout the game, not just a singular moment.”
The Lakers will now head out on the road for a three-game stretch beginning with a matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday. They also have stops against the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers before returning home on Dec. 10 to host the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.
