{"id":419020,"date":"2025-12-02T07:50:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T07:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419020\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T07:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T07:50:20","slug":"lebron-returns-but-suns-shatter-lakers-7-game-winning-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/419020\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron returns but Suns shatter Lakers’ 7-game winning streak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Luka Doncic sat at the table for his postgame news conference and turned the box score over in disgust. <\/p>\n

There was nothing the Lakers superstar wanted to see there. <\/p>\n

The Lakers\u2019 seven-game winning streak<\/a> came to a crashing halt with a 125-108 loss<\/a> to the Phoenix Suns on Monday at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

While Doncic continued his scoring surge with 38 points and 11 rebounds, the loss laid bare the Lakers<\/a>\u2019 biggest problems. Doncic turned the ball over nine times while the Lakers (15-5) had 22 turnovers that led to 32 points for the Suns (13-9). Their middle-of-the-road defense had no answer for Phoenix\u2019s dizzying offense that shot 57% from the field. LeBron James<\/a>, who sat out Sunday to manage a left foot injury at the start of the Lakers\u2019 home back-to-back, faded into the background most of the night.<\/p>\n

The NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer didn\u2019t exert any force on the game until the fourth quarter as the possibility of his 18-year streak of games with 10 or more points looked to be in danger. Entering the fourth quarter with just six points, James hit a step-back fadeaway jumper with 6:51 to go that pushed him to 10 points for the 1,297th consecutive game. <\/p>\n

It was the only moment of consequence in a second half that the Lakers had long let get out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like the Monstars taking over the people that you\u2019ve grown to coach,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re not doing anything that they normally do. It\u2019s weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers star LeBron James passes to forward Dalton Knecht against the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

A puzzled Redick credited possible \u201cbrain fog\u201d caused by three games in four days. The team that had at least played hard enough to compete in 17 of 19 games by Reddick\u2019s estimation was letting opponents run by in transition. The Lakers suddenly forgot basic defensive assignments such as going over screens against Phoenix\u2019s best three-point shooters.<\/p>\n

Then they got burned by Collin Gillespie, who buried four three-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 28 points and eight made threes. Dillon Brooks had 33 to lead the Suns, who had little trouble scoring despite losing star guard Devin Booker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basketball gods reward you, and they also punish you,\u201d Redick said. \u201cAnd so in the moments when we had a chance to be rewarded, we didn\u2019t do what we were supposed to do, and we got punished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Austin Reeves shoots over Suns center Mark Williams during the Lakers\u2019 loss Monday night.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Booker left the game with 2:05 remaining in the first quarter and didn\u2019t return because of a right groin injury. The Suns still dictated the pace and built a 14-point halftime lead by finishing the second quarter on a 19-4 run. Brooks had 23 points in the first half.<\/p>\n

Doncic scored 20 points in the first quarter for the second consecutive game, but unlike when he dominated the struggling New Orleans Pelicans, Doncic\u2019s scoring was not enough Monday. Instead of blitzing Doncic with extra defenders the way most teams have done, the Suns almost invited the star guard to score. Suns center Mark Williams, with his 9-foot-9 standing reach, was enough to stymie Doncic in the paint.<\/p>\n

Doncic, who took blame for the offensive struggles and turnovers, called the coverage \u201cconfusing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t play hard enough,\u201d said guard Austin Reaves<\/a>, who had 16 points and three assists to five turnovers. \u201cYou know that, and you don\u2019t let it affect you going forward. But you remember, just what the feel[ing is], what the energy was like. And you do the opposite of that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Suns, the league leaders in steals, forced 12 Lakers turnovers in the first half, which led to 17 points for Phoenix. The Suns outscored the Lakers 16-0 in fast-break points.<\/p>\n

Lakers guard Marcus Smart missed a third consecutive game, leaving the Lakers without a stalwart defender and vocal leader. He was previously sidelined because of back spasms, but the Lakers designated Monday\u2019s absence as back injury management. Redick doesn\u2019t believe the absence will be long-term as Smart underwent imaging that was \u201cunremarkable,\u201d Redick said, outside of looking \u201clike a normal 11-year NBA veteran,\u201d the coach added with a smile.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto sits courtside during Monday\u2019s game between the Lakers and Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Lakers could use Smart\u2019s toughness as they proceed toward a difficult three-game East Coast trip that begins Thursday in Toronto. They play three games in four days, including in Boston on Friday and in Philadelphia on Sunday. All three teams are above .500, while the Lakers are 4-4 against such teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our little setback and a little shot to the chin,\u201d said center Deandre Ayton, who had 12 points and nine rebounds, \u201cbut it\u2019s not going to knock us down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luka Doncic sat at the table for his postgame news conference and turned the box score over in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":419021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,41222,53902,33353,1910,8604,3363,3365,25873,9548,1589,1721,449,196085,8488,7231,3007,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-419020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-blowout-loss","12":"tag-consecutive-game","13":"tag-fourth-quarter","14":"tag-game","15":"tag-lakers","16":"tag-lebron-james","17":"tag-luka-doncic","18":"tag-marcus-smart","19":"tag-monday","20":"tag-phoenix","21":"tag-phoenix-suns","22":"tag-point","23":"tag-scoring-surge","24":"tag-streak","25":"tag-suns","26":"tag-team","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-united-states-of-america","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115648884887489975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}