LeBron James sat a few feet away from the Lakers’ bench, his hoodie over his head, a mask covering his face, a walking boot stabilizing his high right ankle sprain that kept him out of the game and unable to help his teammates against the Phoenix Suns.
The Lakers’ entire starting frontcourt of James, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol all sat on different parts of the bench, agonizing as their teammates struggled to find any offensive rhythm in Phoenix on Sunday night during a 111-94 defeat.
They watched the Lakers fall into a 15-point hole at the half, shooting 37.2% from the field and 16.7% on 3-pointers (two of 12), a sign of how difficult it was for them to score with their top two offensive weapons in James and Davis sidelined.
Since there is no timetable for James or Davis to return, the Lakers will have to find offense from wherever they can. Lakers coach Frank Vogel reiterated before the game that James is out “indefinitely” and that high ankle sprains usually “take a while to heal.”
So, the Lakers pressed on Sunday night, going with the usual starting backcourt of Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope along with Markieff Morris moving to center and with Kyle Kuzma and Wesley Matthews at forward.
In past games that he missed, Davis would take the iPad from the coaches and show his teammates something. During this game against the Suns, Davis walked backed to James to display something to him on the screen.
But no strategy was going to help the short-handed Lakers on this night.
The size of the 6-foot-11 Deandre Ayton (26 points, eight rebounds) and skills of All-Star guard Devin Booker (26 points and nine rebounds) were too much for the Lakers to handle.
When the two of them made back-to-back baskets late in the fourth — Booker a jumper and Ayton a basket inside — the Suns opened a 107-91 lead that the Lakers could not overcome.
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