With the Los Angeles Lakers coming off an emotional loss and playing on the road in the second night of a back-to-back, head coach Luke Walton emphasized his team needing to create their own energy against the Phoenix Suns.
Instead, the Lakers were sluggish to start, falling behind by as many as nine points in the first quarter. With Brandon Ingram, LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma spending a portion of the second quarter on the bench, the Lakers saw their deficit swell to 14 points.
Phoenix scored 33 points in each of the first two quarters but the Lakers’ rally before halftime kept them in the game.