Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are the defending champions, so it is hard to say that they need to start worrying, especially with LeBron James and Anthony Davis being healthy, but the Suns are not the team Los Angeles wanted to play in the first-round.
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Not only did Devin Booker give the Lakers “the business” in Game 1, but Deandre Ayton had arguably one of the best games of his young career against some of the best big men in the entire league.
Ayton was matched up with Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and Montrezl Harrell throughout the game on both ends of the court, yet he held his own and finished the game with 21 points and 16 rebounds. The one common thing that Davis, Drummond and Harrell all shared in common besides getting beat by Ayton was the fact that they really did not help their team in this game.
Harrell had some good scoring runs during his 15 minutes off-the-bench, but his physicality cost the Lakers some fouls, as well as his temper, which sparked an altercation in the third-quarter. As for Davis and Drummond, they both struggled for different reasons.
Anthony Davis was taken out of the game early on by the Suns and he was never able to recover physically and most importantly mentaly. Andre Drummond had a nice game on paper, posting 12 points and 9 rebounds, but he was a mess defensively and left Lakers’ fans asking themselves “why is he on the court right now?”
Game 1 was a hot mess for the Los Angeles Lakers and if Anthony Davis does not get going in Game 2, they could definitely find themselves in an 0-2 hole heading back to Los Angeles for two games.
The Lakers desperately need to win Game 2 in Phoenix because if they do not, then Game 3 suddenly becomes a must-win game. The defending champions have the talent to beat the Phoenix Suns, but if Game 1 told us anything, it is that the Suns look tougher both physically and mentaly than the Lakers.
