Lakers eradicated by upstart Suns in first spherical of NBA playoffs

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The Los Angeles Lakers labored by way of a 113-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at Staples Heart and misplaced their first-round sequence in six video games. Whereas the Lakers did not defend their NBA championship as a seventh seed, the No. 2 Suns will face the third-seeded Denver Nuggets within the second spherical.

Beneath are key takeaways from the sport from the Lakers’ finish.

1. Anthony Davis deserves credit score for attempting to play, however he clearly was not prepared.

With a annoyed look on his face, Davis sat down on the ground adjoining to the Lakers’ bench. He had obtained clearance to play in Sport 6 after lacking the second half of Sport 4 and all of Sport 5 due to his strained left groin. However after struggling to defend, assault the rim and even transfer in any respect, Davis lastly had sufficient.

With solely 6:35 left within the first quarter, Davis sat down on the ground and struggled to course of every thing. He quickly stood up and went to the locker room. Davis returned to the bench about 4 minutes later in warmups, and the Lakers technically thought of Davis questionable to play. However there was no query that Davis would sit out the remainder of the sport. The Lakers formally made that call after trailing, 62-41, at halftime.

2. LeBron James did not rise to the event.

No scorching takes right here. LeBron’s legacy is completely high-quality, even when he received’t win his fifth NBA title and can lose within the first spherical for the primary day out of 15 appearances. The loss doesn’t fall solely on him, both. However let’s be actual. The Lakers confirmed of their Sport 5 loss and loads of occasions in the course of the season an unlucky actuality about their supporting forged. They can’t be trusted on a constant foundation.

So the one method the Lakers had any smidgen of an opportunity on this recreation? If James simply tried to take over the sport, workforce chemistry be damned. As an alternative, James tried to string the needle once more. Even when James determined to hog the ball, the Lakers nonetheless might have misplaced. The Suns’ Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul are that good. However that technique seemingly would have labored higher than his method with attempting to string the needle between scoring and establishing his teammates.

Look, James has often mastered how you can play the fitting method. And the criticism he sometimes obtained for not taking the ultimate shot was often misinformed. However after seeing that team-first method not work in Sport 5, why would James assume it might work in Sport 6?

3. Lakers fought valiantly within the second half

That being mentioned, James and everybody else on the Lakers deserve credit score for chipping away at a 29-point deficit within the second half. They simply may have simply packed it in. As an alternative, the Lakers whittled the Suns’ result in 13 getting into the fourth quarter.

That occurred as a result of James went into assault mode, his supporting forged made photographs and all the workforce made defensive stops. However each time it seemed just like the Lakers have been inside hanging distance, any mixture of Booker, Paul or Cameron Payne answered proper again.

If nothing else, no less than this exhibits that the Lakers’ efforts this season had extra to do with the compressed season, overlapping accidents and new personnel than any angle or locker room points.

4. The place do the Lakers go from right here?

The Lakers’ end won’t be shocking contemplating the workforce’s overlapping accidents in a compressed season solely 72 days after profitable the NBA championship. It’s comprehensible why the Lakers made tweaks to their roster as an alternative of retaining some core gamers from final yr’s title run in hopes of getting a youthful and more energizing roster. However anticipate the Lakers to make adjustments this offseason.

No, James and Davis received’t and mustn’t go anyplace. However can’t see why the Lakers would have any curiosity in retaining Dennis Schroder, Andre Drummond and Montrezl Harrell. The Lakers ought to maintain Alex Caruso and Talen-Horton Tucker since they’re principally dependable function gamers. However anticipate for Kyle Kuzma to be connected in talks contemplating his team-friendly extension and his failure to have season-long consistency.

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Lakers eradicated by Suns in first spherical of NBA playoffs

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