LOS ANGELES — The Lakers snapped a four-game skid on Sunday afternoon in Luka Dončić's return from injury, taking down the Suns 107-96 to end the season series with Phoenix at 2-2 and improve to 41-25 with 16 games left.
Los Angeles earned its 26th win at Crypto.com Arena this season and bounced back from a heartbreaking road loss to the Nuggets on Friday, boasting the second-best home record (26-7) in the Western Conference and the third-most home wins in the NBA, trailing only Cleveland and Oklahoma City.
"We lost a crushing game on Friday night... It was disheartening. Our guys to come back [from the road trip] with an early start and be the harder playing team from the beginning; that, to me, says everything about our group," head coach JJ Redick said.
The return to the win column was behind a stellar duo performance from Dončić and Austin Reaves, who combined for 61 points.
Dončić notched his seventh game (of 14) with 30 or more points since joining the Lakers, finishing with 33 points (11 rebounds, eight assists) on eight-of-20 shooting in his return to the lineup.
Reaves took some of the pressure off of Dončić as L.A.'s secondary scorer with LeBron James still out of the Lakers lineup with a groin strain. He continued to prove why he's up there as one of the best third options in the league.
The return of Jaxson Hayes (missed the last four games) was a big part of the Lakers' success, as the starting center has played his best basketball since the acquisition of Dončić as a lob threat option for the Slovenian.
"You can see the difference for me. It helps me a lot, but he helps the whole team," Dončić said on Hayes' return. "We missed him, for sure."
Hayes tied a season-high 19 points (six rebounds) on eight-of-10 shooting from the floor. He got things going for the Lakers with three straight and-one buckets to open up the game, scoring eight of L.A.'s first 15 points.
Dončić got things going early on and throughout, pouring in three 3-pointers in the first quarter. He would outscore the entire Suns team (13-11) in the opening quarter after a rough shooting start from Phoenix, missing their first 10 attempts from behind the arc.
"We knew we had to be better. We knew we had to be more physical, first of all, and I thought our defense was amazing from start to finish," Dončić said.
The first half would be all Lakers, who outscored Phoenix 54-37 as the Suns couldn't shake a two-of-20 from deep. Phoenix finished with a season-low 22% (nine-of-41) from deep with a 39.3% field goal split.
Phoenix's Bradley Beal played 15 minutes until hamstring soreness kept him out of the second half of the game, leaving Kevin Durant and Devin Booker down their third scoring option and down big with their back against the wall.
In the second half, the Suns would pick up their production, outscoring L.A. 34-29 in the third, but the Dončić and Reaves duo matched Durant and Booker buckets. Eight points would be the closest Phoenix would get the rest of the way, doubling Dončić (and even tripling) at times, which created open shots for others.
Dorian Finney-Smith was the open man and hit two open corner 3-pointers to close out L.A.'s needed win. He tied with Dončić for the highest plus-minus (16) in the game, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds in 35 minutes.
Durant finished with 21 points (nine rebounds), and Booker finished with 19 points (11 assists) for their 37th loss this season. Phoenix sits a game and a half behind Dallas (33-36) for the final play-in spot (11th seed) in the West at 31-37.
Next Game
The Lakers will continue their five-game homestand on Monday against the Spurs for their second straight back-to-back. San Antonio has lost four of their last five games and will be without their top stars, De'Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama, who are out for the rest of the season with injuries.
All-Time Record Between the Two
This was the 272nd game between the two franchises, with the Lakers winning 152 of those games. Their first matchup was back in 1968, when Elgin Baylor had a 40-point, 14-rebound, 12-assist triple-double in L.A.’s 122-112 win over Phoenix.