Ball flirts with triple-double, Lakers hold on to beat Suns

PHOENIX — Lonzo Ball barely missed a triple-double with 29 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in his second NBA game and the Los Angeles Lakers held on to beat the Phoenix Suns 132-130 on Friday night.

The Suns had a chance to tie it with 1.2 seconds to play, but T.J. Warren missed the first of two free throws. That meant he had to miss the second intentionally and hope for a rebound, but the Suns couldn’t get a decent shot off before the buzzer.

Ball, the No. 2 overall pick this year who is a week shy of his 20th birthday, took over down the stretch, scoring eight points in a 2 1/2-minute span. His final basket during that run, a floating layup, put Los Angeles ahead 130-122 with 1:35 to play.

But the Suns came roaring back behind Eric Bledsoe and Devin Booker, whose 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left cut it to 131-130. Brandon Ingram made one of two free throws to give Phoenix one last chance and Warren was fouled by Ingram on an inbounds play.

The free throw was off the back of the rim, though, and the Lakers survived.

Bledsoe scored 29 points, 17 in the fourth quarter. Booker also flirted with what would have been his first career triple-double, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Warren added 24 points, 17 in the second quarter. Ingram scored 25 points for Los Angeles.

Both teams were coming off of season-opening blowout losses.

The Lakers lost to the Los Angeles Clippers 108-92, and Phoenix was routed by Portland 124-79, the most one-sided loss in Suns history and most one-sided season opener ever in the NBA.

From the opening tip Friday, it was a fast-paced, often sloppy, game with not much attention to defense.

Phoenix used a 13-2 run to go up 55-49 with 7:09 left in the half and the Suns stretched it to 67-58 on another 3 by Booker with 3:34 left in the half. But the Lakers scored the next seven, five at the free throw line.

Warren responded with consecutive baskets, but Ingram had the last laugh, a 3-pointer with eight seconds to play to cut Phoenix’s lead to 73-70 at the half.

Booker was called for a flagrant one when he fouled Brewer hard on a layup with 6:02 left in the third quarter. Larry Nance Jr. jumped into the fray and put a shoulder into Booker, who responded with a shove. Booker and Nance both were assessed technical fouls.

The play came during an 13-2 Lakers outburst that put Los Angeles on top 95-85 after Nance stole the ball from Booker with both players on the floor and flipped the ball to Lopez for a layup with 3:03 to play in the third quarter.

The Lakers boosted the lead to 111-99 on Clarkson’s basket with 10:28 to go.

TIP INS

Lakers: Luol Deng, who started Thursday’s opener, was inactive. … Ball had three points, nine assists and four steals in his debut Thursday night. … The Lakers locked arms as they stood for the national anthem.

Suns: In the second quarter, Warren was 6 for 7 from the field and 5 for 6 from the foul line. … Booker was flattened under the Phoenix basket by Brook Lopez in the second quarter. He was slow to get up but stayed in the game. ..The Suns play their next five on the road. Their next home game is Nov. 6 against Brooklyn.

UP NEXT

Lakers: Host New Orleans on Sunday night.

Suns: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Westbrook secures triple-double average, falls short of 42nd

PHOENIX — Russell Westbrook joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season.

That didn’t make him feel much better about his or his team’s awful Friday night, when Westbrook failed for the second game in a row to break Robertson’s 55-year-old, single-season record for most triple-doubles.

The dynamic Thunder guard fell two assists shy of what would have been his 42nd in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 120-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

Of averaging a triple-double for the season, Westbrook said, “You could never say in a million years that I would think that was even possible.”

And as for not getting 10 assists?

“My main goal since I got here, especially this season, is to win a championship,” Westbrook said. “If I wanted to get 10 assists, I could get 10 assists. Everybody wants to see the record broke, but it’s bigger than that for our team and for me.”

On a rough night all around, Westbrook had 23 points (on 6-of-25 shooting, 2 of 12 3-pointers), 12 rebounds and eight assists, along with eight turnovers before coach Billy Donovan pulled him with 2:34 to play.

Devin Booker scored 21 of the Suns’ 25 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 37 as Phoenix snapped a 13-game losing streak.

“From the start of the game, Russ was chasing history,” Booker said. “… Unbelievable player. I’m sure he’s going to get it. I’m happy it wasn’t here but we locked in defensively.”

Westbrook did get the six assists he needed to assure that he’d join Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double for a season — breaching double figures for all three categories. Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists for the Cincinnati Royals in the 1961-62 season.

After the game, Westbrook went straight to the practice court and stayed there for nearly an hour.

“Get your mind right,” he explained. “You understand how important a game is and you want to make sure I’m playing the best that I need to play for my teammates. Tonight I felt like I let them down.”

Westbrook stayed in the game long after the outcome seemed certain. Donovan said he hadn’t given up on being able to win the game.

“No, I wasn’t trying for the triple-double,” the coach said. “I’ve seen enough miraculous things this year — at Dallas and Orlando — and I thought about taking him out at the stoppage of play around 3:40, 3:45. I just said, you know what, he gets hot around the 3-point line, we make a couple of shots. … I just wanted to give our team every opportunity.”

Westbrook had probably his worst shooting first half of the season and his teammates didn’t show much interest in the contest as the Suns opened a 28-point lead.

He missed his first 11 shots before sinking a 17-footer with 50.4 seconds left in the half. He followed that quickly with a three-point play on an acrobatic drive to the basket.

But his halftime stats were ugly: 2-for-13 shooting, 0 for 4 on 3s, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers.

Phoenix, meanwhile, shot 61 percent in the first half, led by Warren’s 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, to Oklahoma City’s 39 percent and led 71-48 at the half.

source: sports.inquirer.net