The night after defeating the Golden State Warriors 119-103 in San Francisco, the Los Angeles Lakers quickly headed home to host the Phoenix Suns on Friday. As the Warriors were on Thursday, the Suns were short-handed — they didn't have the services of All-Star guard Devin Booker, Jalen Green, Jordan Goodwin and Haywood Highsmith.
The Lakers took advantage and started quickly in this game by getting out to a 30-14 lead with 3:09 left in the first quarter. Phoenix stayed in the thick of things by dominating the offensive boards, and it went ahead momentarily about midway through the second quarter. But Los Angeles regained the lead and was up 57-48 at halftime, and it consistently extended its lead afterward, allowing it to secure a 101-73 victory.
While L.A. shot 50.7% from the field and 40% from 3-point range, it won easily thanks to its defense. The Suns made just 33.8% of their field-goal attempts and seven of their 40 3-point attempts, and in the second half, they were a paltry 22.9% overall. Although L.A. was outrebounded by 12, it forced 24 turnovers, which allowed it to establish a 19-3 advantage in fast-break points.
The Houston Rockets, who entered Friday in fifth place in the Western Conference, lost 136-132 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. That means the Lakers, who now have a 52-29 record, are guaranteed at least the fourth seed, not to mention home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
They can finish with the third seed if they defeat the Utah Jazz on Sunday and if the Denver Nuggets, who currently hold third place, lose to the San Antonio Spurs the same night.
It wasn't that LaRavia had a bad game on Friday. He simply didn't assert himself that much. In 31 minutes, he took just one shot attempt (which he made), and he also had three rebounds, one assist and two steals.
Hachimura scored 10 points in the first half, and he finished with 13 points on 4-of-8 overall shooting and 2-of-3 from 3-point range, to go along with two rebounds and three assists. With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves out of action, Hachimura is continuing to do a good job of attacking off the dribble and taking his time to get good shots while being fairly aggressive overall on offense.
Ayton had four points and three rebounds in the first half. He perked up a bit in the opening minutes of the third quarter and added six points during that time, giving him a total of 10 points and five rebounds in 30 minutes for the game. He made half of his eight shot attempts, and he also had one steal and one block.
More than anything else, the Lakers are going to need Ayton to be very strong on the boards come playoff time, even if he isn't scoring in double figures.
Kennard poured in 17 points in the first half and again did an excellent job of playing on the ball, both as a distributor and as a scoring threat. He ended up with 19 points on 6-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from downtown while making all five of his free throw attempts. In 28 minutes, he also helped out in other areas with three assists, one rebound, three steals and just one turnover.
James continues to lead the hobbled Lakers with the type of superstar-level play people have been accustomed to seeing from him for two decades. He scored 14 points in the first quarter to get the Lakers off to an early lead, and he had 22 points in the first half on 8-of-10 shooting. He continues to play with plenty of energy and bounce, and he showed no signs of fatigue after an excellent performance just 24 hours earlier.
Overall, he played 32 minutes and finished with 28 points while shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 6-of-9 from the charity stripe while making both of his 3-point tries. James also dished off 12 assists, grabbed six rebounds and came up with four steals.
In his return after missing nine games with an ankle ailment, Smart turned in six points, five rebounds, seven assists, two steals and one block while playing 18 minutes off the bench. He shot 2-of-5 from the field and missed both of his attempts from beyond the arc, but he looked like every bit of the player who had been the Lakers' X-factor for several weeks preceding his injury.
Vanderbilt made a nice contribution in 19 minutes. He scored six points and made half of his six shot attempts, grabbed seven rebounds and added one assist and one steal. As long as Doncic and Reaves are out of action, Vanderbilt can help the Lakers by providing full-court defense, rebounding, open-court ball handling and overall energy, even if he's unable to hit anything from long range.
Smith played 13 minutes and made one of his five shot attempts, giving him four points, to go along with two rebounds.
The younger James had a very solid outing on Thursday, but on Friday, he wasn't much of a factor. In 13 minutes, he scored three points on two shot attempts and also had two rebounds, one steal and two turnovers.
With Jaxson Hayes unable to play again due to a left foot injury, Kleber played 12 minutes and scored two points while adding one steal.
In six minutes, Timme posted two points and one rebound. Knecht was on the court for four minutes and scored five points, and he had a nice sequence where he blocked a shot attempt by Khaman Malauch, ran the floor and hit a 3-pointer in transition. Thiero went scoreless, while Mañon had one point. Both Thiero and Mañon chipped in one steal.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: L.A. slams Suns, improves playoff positioning