The Suns Obliterated The Lakers To Move One Game Away From The Conference Semifinals

The Phoenix Suns are 48 minutes away from eliminating the Los Angeles Lakers from the 2021 playoffs. The Suns played picture-perfect basketball against a shorthanded Lakers squad on Wednesday night, racing out to an early lead, reinforcing it with a jaw-dropping second quarter, and going on cruise control during the second half en route to a 115-85 win that gave them a 3-2 lead on the series.

Before the game even tipped off, signs were pointing towards this ending up being a long evening for the purple and gold. Anthony Davis, the team’s star forward, was ruled out with a groin strain that he suffered in Game 4, with L.A. turning to Markieff Morris in his stead.

Even if Davis played, though, it is hard to imagine anyone or anything stopping the Suns on Tuesday night. Los Angeles raced out to an early 8-3 lead, and from approximately that moment on, it was all Phoenix all night. The Suns ripped off an 18-2 run from that point on to give themselves a double-digit lead, and while the Lakers managed to get it down to five, Monty Williams’ bunch kept having answers behind an 18-point frame from Devin Booker.

And then, the avalanche came. The Suns began the second quarter on a 19-2 run and finished were up at the half, 66-36. Los Angeles scored 10 points in the entirety of the second. It was part Phoenix masterclass, part Lakers disaster, and while a second half of basketball took place after, the message was sent: L.A. is going to have to win two games in a row, perhaps without Davis, if it wants to continue its championship defense.

Booker was the man of the night for the Suns. In his best game of his young playoff career so far, Booker scored 30 points in 33 minutes, connecting on 13 of his 23 attempts from the field with seven rebounds and five assists.

Beyond him, Cameron Payne provided quite the scoring punch off the bench, with 16 points in 19 minutes of action. Mikal Bridges stuffed the stat sheet — 13 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals two blocks — and while Deandre Ayton (eight rebounds, seven assists) and Chris Paul (nine points, six assists, four rebounds, a steal) had relatively quiet nights, Phoenix did more than enough to win.

A major reason why was the absolutely wretched play by Los Angeles, although the Suns deserve tons of credit for making them uncomfortable. LeBron James did not looked like the all-encompassing player he can be on his best nights, as he had 24 with seven assists and five rebounds. It was also, shockingly, the first time in his career that he lost back-to-back games in the first round of the postseason. Kyle Kuzma scored 15 and Talen Horton-Tucker gave the team 11 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, but on the whole, it was very much a burn the tape night for the Lakers. That’s especially the case for Dennis Schröder, who scored no points on 0-for-9 shooting.

Game 6 between the Suns and Lakers will take place on Thursday night at the Staples Center. It is scheduled to tip off at 10:30 p.m. EST on TNT.