SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
The Los Angeles Lakers (21-31) are finally back from their 5 game road trip to take on the Phoenix Suns (18-36) on Tuesday night at Staples Center. This clash of lottery teams will be the 4th and final time they meet, The Lakers won the first two engagements while the Suns took the last on November 17th. The visiting team won every time.
The Lakers went 3-2 on their road trip and capped it off with an excellent win against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Excellent offensive production from the starters as well as Jordan Clarkson propelled them to a victory on Sunday afternoon. The Lakers accrued wins over the Bulls, Nets, and Thunder over their road trip but lost to the Raptors and Magic. The trip showed us that they can beat the good and the bad teams on the road, but they could just as easily perform poorly on the defensive end and lose.
Luke Walton inserted Josh Hart into the starting lineup the last couple games and its yielded two Laker victories. Josh gives great effort on defensive, and he pulls down a ton of rebounds for a non-big guy (14 against Brooklyn and 10 against OKC). He would normally have to go against Devin Booker but the Suns just ruled him out for this game with a hip injury. Last time he was the catalyst who led the Suns to victory with 33 points. Booker isn't expected to face the Spurs the following day either
Julius Randle will also be bruising down low against Alex Len, both players have the capacity to get testy and start shit at the rim. Luke called upon Randle to be the team enforcer, their resident tough guy who sticks up for everyone. That guy isn't the tallest but he's a freaking ox who can body up with just about everyone in the league. Luke Walton remarked after the OKC game that last time the Lakers faced them they were pushed around in the paint by Steven Adams, but now Julius and the young Lakeshow are learning to push back when they're challenged. Expect Randle and Alex Len to butt heads in some heated exchanges in the paint.
Brandon Ingram has been doing an excellent job at playing the point-forward position the last two games. He dished out 10 assists in Brooklyn and tallied 16, 5 and 5 against OKC. In Lonzo's absence, they've been switching between Ingram and Clarkson bringing the ball up the floor and running the offense. Lonzo is still nursing an MCL injury in his left knee that is taking its sweet time to heal. He tried going through drills to test the injury on the teams trip in Toronto, but there was a setback as he reported he "felt something" after the practice. He definitely won't play against the Suns or the Thunder again on Thursday.
While the state of the Lakers is optimistic - winning 10 of their last 14 - the Suns are on the other end of the spectrum. Phoenix is on a 2 game losing streak but they have played horribly the last 10 games. They're 2-8 with their only wins coming on the road in Denver and at home against fellow bottom-dweller Dallas. Their chances are looking bleak without Devin Booker's play making ability and scoring at 24.1 ppg. The Suns are going to take the Lonzo Ball approach to the injury and let Devin Booker take all the time he needs to recover. Tyler Ulis should be the one to start at point guard for the Suns.
The Lakers should have no reason to lose this game with Devin Booker out, but inconsistency has cursed them in the past. When LA faced Orlando not long ago they were also missing their best players, but they ended up dominating the Lakers with hot shooting. That killed the Lakers morale and they basically gave up in the second half. This is their best stretch of play over the course of the season, and since they're at home I don't think they'll let Phoenix get the upper hand. They should come out with a victory 104-92.
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