Lakers player grades: L.A. blows another lead, loses third in a row
· Yahoo Sports
Coming out of the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to start building some momentum, especially with all three of their stars finally healthy. But they instead lost back-to-back games to the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, and they came into Thursday's contest against the Phoenix Suns badly needing a win to stop the bleeding.
The Suns were without Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks, their two leading scorers, and it looked like there was no excuse for the Lakers to lose this matchup.
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Thursday's game was a topsy-turvy affair, and after Los Angeles scored the first 11 points of the third quarter and built a 13-point lead, the Suns surged ahead 101-89 with just over six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. L.A. chopped away at that deficit and tied the score at 110-all with 22.7 seconds left, but the Suns whipped the ball around and got a 3-pointer by Royce O'Neale with 0.9 seconds left.
Austin Reaves had a decent look right before the horn at a trey, but he missed, and the Lakers suffered their third straight loss by a final score of 113-110.
This game was ultimately decided at the 3-point line. Phoenix went 22-of-50 from beyond the arc and caught the Lakers napping many times defensively. They managed to shoot 50.7% from the field and go 11-of-29 from 3-point range while making 12 more free throws, but the disparity in made 3-pointers was too much to overcome.
The Lakers are still in sixth place with a 34-24 record, but they're now ahead of the seventh-place Suns by just one game. They have now lost five of their last seven games.
Deandre Ayton: D-minus
After getting 21 points and 13 rebounds on Tuesday versus Orlando, Ayton went back to being invisible on Thursday. He played just 11 minutes in the first half and went scoreless while getting just one rebound during that time, and overall, he had two points and four rebounds in 23 minutes. Coach JJ Redick elected to go with Jaxson Hayes instead of Ayton for the last 7:43 of the fourth quarter.
Marcus Smart: B-plus
Smart made enough of an offensive contribution in this game. He went 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-5 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to score 13 points, and in 31 minutes, he also had one rebound, three assists and one steal.
Austin Reaves: D-plus/C-minus
Reaves played well in the second half of Tuesday's game, but he was ice-cold in the first half of that contest. Against Phoenix, he again started off slow, going 1-of-3 in the first quarter, and although his efficiency improved afterward, he was relatively quiet offensively.
He shot 5-of-12 overall and scored 14 points, to go along with three rebounds, two assists and two steals. He also committed four turnovers, and that stood out a bit since the Lakers as a team did a solid job of protecting the ball with just 12 total turnovers.
LeBron James: C-minus
James was quiet in the first half with five points. He perked up a bit in the third quarter by scoring eight points, but he was quiet once again down the stretch. He finished 7-of-16 from the field, limiting him to 15 points, and he continues to struggle from long distance, as he missed all three of his 3-point tries. In 35 minutes, he also had six rebounds, five assists and just one turnover.
Luka Doncic: A
Doncic was a frigid 8-of-24 on Tuesday, but he was his usual self versus Phoenix. After going 5-of-7 in the first quarter, Doncic was cold in the second quarter and shot 1-of-6 during that period. However, he got himself going afterward and scored 14 points in the third quarter, and he made all three of his field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter. He scored nine straight points late in the final frame to cut a nine-point deficit to two points with just under three minutes to go.
He finished 12-of-21 overall, 6-of-11 from downtown and 11-of-12 from the free throw line, giving him 41 points. He also produced eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals.
Jaxson Hayes: B-plus/A-minus
With Redick deciding to go with Hayes down the stretch, Hayes got 21 minutes of playing time and largely did his job. He grabbed eight rebounds and scored six points while also contributing one assist and one block.
Luke Kennard: B-plus
The 3-point shot generally wasn't available to Kennard again, but he took advantage of that type of defensive coverage on him and put the ball on the floor. He missed his only 3-point attempt of the night, but he went 4-of-6 overall from the field and scored eight points. In 21 minutes of playing time, he also obtained three rebounds.
But for some reason, Kennard wasn't on the court for the Lakers' final possession when they needed a 3-pointer to force overtime.
Jake LaRavia: B
LaRavia played some active defense and generally didn't let the man he was trying to guard get past him off the dribble. Offensively, he made half of his six shot attempts and all four of his free throw attempts, giving him 11 points. He also had five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 28 minutes.
Jarred Vanderbilt, Maxi Kleber: Incomplete
Vanderbilt played six minutes and had one rebound. Kleber only got into the game for the Lakers' final possession and made no statistical contributions.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: L.A. blows another lead, loses third in a row