Recap: Phoenix Suns Beat Los Angeles Lakers 98-94

The Phoenix Suns finished off the preseason against the Los Angeles Lakers

Here’s what happened...

First half highlights

We didn’t get to watch the game in any normal fashion that didn’t include a bunch of pop-ups, re-directs, downloads and other potentially nasty crap. Those of you who had a clear shot at the game pirated game feed have already infected your PCs, but let’s move on.

Tonight’s recap will be full of the Suns’ own twitter feed with some nice GIFs.

Here you see Tyson Chandler with the dunk off a nice feed from Devin Booker. Chandler, in his first action since the opening night of preseason, had a strong 8 points and 7 rebounds in the first half alone.

Marquese Chriss had a nice score here, but finished the half with more fouls (3) than anything else in 8 minutes of play. Overzealous might be the word.

Eric Bledsoe had a nice first half, with only two points but 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

The Suns played well overall in the first half, finishing on a 9-2 run to lead 51-43 at intermission.

Jared Dudley was the first half’s unsung hero, with 8 points (3-4 shooting), 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.

Second Half

The Lakers started out on a good run, closing the gap from 9 points to 1 at 55-54. The Lakers scored 4 points on one possession with a free throw on a Suns defensive 3-second call, and then and and-one by Julius Randle against Jared Dudley.

But hey there was this T.J. Warren follow that looked good!

The Suns briefly pulled ahead for a while, and started pulling away early in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, the Suns began playing sloppily, and even the superstar rookie big man, Marquese Chriss, checked in and caused a couple of costly turnovers. The Lakers briefly led before the Suns once again rallied back and ended the third quarter with a 77-72 lead.

The fourth quarter was more back and forth through the start of the quarter, with much of the bench unit holding their own. Chriss didn’t have his best game, but he still made his presence felt getting his hands on steals throughout the game, and forcing another with about eight minutes left that led to a fastbreak score by Barbosa and pushing the Suns lead up to 10.

The Lakers briefly fought back, cutting into the Suns lead once again, but the Suns went back to their starting unit with five minutes left in the game to stabilize and secure the lead, and that’s basically what they did...even though it went down to the wire at the end.

Alex Len was the high scorer for Phoenix with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks. Solid game for the big Ukrainian.

Suns win their final preseason game on the road in LA; 98-94.They finish the preseason 4-2 overall.

This game was definitely the most dress-rehearsal-ish game the Suns have played so far...which makes sense since the next game they play will count. Phoenix kept the rotation short, and even limited the playing time of Chriss and Bender, who prior to this game, had played substantial minutes.

So how did they look overall? Are they ready for the regular season? I’d say pretty good, and yes. This team will certainly experience growing pains, but that’s to be expected. The biggest change that could still be made is inserting P.J. Tucker back into the starting lineup if healthy. However, with as well as T.J. Warren has played...that may not happen regardless.

No more looking for Internet streams, Suns fans...Phoenix starts the NBA regular season this Wednesday!