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[av_heading heading=’Booker’s 33 power Suns past LA Lakers’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]
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Sunday, November 19, 2017
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LOS ANGELES – The Phoenix Suns weren’t about to go down for the third time without a fight against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Devin Booker hit six 3-pointers while scoring 33 points, and the Suns beat the Lakers for the first time in three meetings this season, 122-113 on Friday night.
Tyler Ulis scored 16 points for the Suns, and the diminutive point guard also got into an aggressive shoving match with Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope near the Phoenix bench with 3:17 to play. Ulis, Caldwell-Pope and Suns rookie Josh Jackson were given technical fouls following the fracas.
According to Ulis, the Suns’ strong effort was all about payback for two previous losses to the Lakers in the past month.
“We understand that those were two games that we definitely should have had, definitely should have won,” Ulis said. “You know we wanted to come out tonight and prove that we should have won both of those games and win the next matchup as well.”
These two young teams have had extracurricular altercations in each of their meetings this season. After this one, the Suns calmed down and pushed on to avenge their home loss to the Lakers on Monday.
“We’ve played three times in such a short amount of time, and it’s like the same idea behind a playoff series,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “By Game 3, 4, 5, it starts to get chippy.”
Jackson eagerly rushed in to confront Caldwell-Pope, while Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball created yet another immediate viral online sensation when he walked away from the drama.
“It’s the NBA. People ain’t really going to fight,” Ball said. “I ain’t trying to get no tech.”
Alex Len had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Suns, who won for just the second time in eight games. Phoenix bounced back impressively after giving up 142 points in a home loss to Houston one night earlier.
“After dropping the first two games, we knew we were going in with a must-win mentality, that we want to punch first and win,” Booker said. “I think we did that.”
Rookie forward Kyle Kuzma scored 28 of his career-high 30 points in the second half for the Lakers, who committed 20 turnovers while losing for the fifth time in six games.
Brook Lopez had 19 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles. Ball had a quiet six points, six assists and six rebounds in 38 minutes.
“Just a lack of focus,” Ball said of the Lakers’ effort. “We probably came in complacent. We beat them twice, so we thought it was going to be easier, I guess.” (AP)
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