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PHOENIX — Don’t let the late comeback attempt fool you. Or Luka Doncic’s absurd shotmaking. Or the team’s late uptick in hustle, physicality and energy.
Because if the Lakers played with the level of intent they did in the final 6 ½ minutes of Thursday’s matchup against the Suns for the entire game, they wouldn’t have been in the position they were in in the first place.
Instead, they were late to the party, with Royce O’Neale’s game-winner 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left and Austin Reaves’ wide-open missed corner 3 at the buzzer sending the Lakers out of Mortgage Matchup Center with a 113-110 defeat for their third straight loss.
It’s the second straight game they lost late after being one of the league’s best clutch teams, following Tuesday’s home loss to the Magic.
“We were supposed to win,” Marcus Smart said. “We did everything right. We were healthy. We’re playing well, and we let our foot up, and they made us pay for it. And those are the ones that get us.”
Doncic finished with a game-high 41 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go with eight assists and eight rebounds. He scored 14 points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth.
But the Lakers, who were facing a short-handed Suns team that was missing their two best players in Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks, shouldn’t have needed his scoring output the way they did.
But the Lakers weren’t tenacious enough on the glass, with Phoenix grabbing 15 offensive rebounds.
And they were slow closing out to shooters, leading to the Suns shooting 44% on 3s (22 of 50).
“The thing we talked about [Thursday] morning was trying to limit their lasers and not just in makes, but in terms of attempts,” coach JJ Redick said. “It’s the reason we didn’t play a ton of zone [defense], didn’t play any zone. We made some adjustments with our fives. Had them in coverage for most of the game; they ended up getting some good looks. Went to 15. They got some transition 3s.
“You have to defend for 24 seconds. So that starts in transition and then they’re just gonna keep playing and get to multiple actions and, and that’s the part that I think that just hurt us a lot. Just being able to keep up with their pace and their speed.”
What it means
The Lakers are on their first three-game losing streak since early January, and have lost five of their last seven games.
They’re 34-24 on the season and clinging onto No. 6 in the West, just one game ahead of the No. 7 Suns in the standings.
Turning point
A cop out would be to say there were too many critical moments that the Lakers lost to choose just one.
But of all of the embarrassing moments, one stood out among the rest: when Ryan Dunn, who was the furthest away from the Lakers’ basket after contesting a missed Luke Kennard 3-pointer, beat every Lakers player down the floor to make himself available for a wide-open dunk in transition.
The Suns went up 96-86 after the dunk, with the Lakers calling timeout.
MVP: Grayson Allen
Allen led the Suns with 28 points, including 16 in the third the Suns took control of the game.
He and Collin Gillespie made six 3s apiece.
“We just got to do a better job at getting to bodies and forcing them inside the three-point line when that happens,” Jake LaRavia said. “It starts with physicality.”
Stat of the game: Five
Thursday was just the fifth time this season the Lakers lost a game after shooting at least 50% from the floor.
They entered Thursday with a 24-4 record in games they made at least half of their shots.
Up next
The Lakers travel to San Francisco for a nationally-televised matchup against the Warriors on Saturday at Chase Center.
The statuses for Draymond Green, Kristaps Porzingis and De’Anthony Melton weren’t known as of Thursday evening after they missed the Warriors’ road win over the Grizzlies on Wednesday.
The Lakers are hoping to get Rui Hachimura back in the lineup after he sat out of Thursday’s game because of an illness.