LOS ANGELES — The Phoenix Suns bounced back strong from Thursday night's loss in Los Angeles to tie the series against the Lakers on Sunday with a 100-92 win.
The Suns dominated much of the second half until the Lakers made things interesting late.
The Suns certainly shared the wealth in terms of points. Six Suns finished with double figures. Chris Paul led all scorers with 18 points. Jae Crowder, who had struggled significantly from the field all series finished with 17 points including a key three with 1:23 left to put the game away. Devin Booker also had 17 points.
For the Lakers, LeBron James led with 25 points.
Lakers star Anthony Davis, who gashed the Suns for 68 points over games two and three, had just two field goals at half and went down with a sprained left knee with under a minute to go in the first half. He got up and left the floor under his own power, but did not reappear with the rest of the Lakers to start the third quarter and he would not return to the game.
After a sloppy first half of the first quarter offensively both teams started to settle in. The Lakers led 24-23 after one, Devin Booker was leading all scorers with 9 points.
The Lakers started the second quarter on a 12-2 run, but the Suns righted the ship, taking a 43-40 lead with five minutes to go in the half.
The Suns kept things rolling and took a 54-50 lead into the half. Booker led all scorers at the half with 15 points.
The Suns came out hot to start the third, taking advantage of Davis’ absence. DeAndre Ayton was strong inside with three straight buckets, Mikal Bridges hit a three in transition, Chris Paul his a mid-range jumper and Devin Booker drew an offensive foul. After another Paul mid-range fade away, the Suns all of a sudden had a 14-point lead.
Phoenix went into the fourth with a 16-point lead.
Similar to how the Suns showed life late in Game 3, the Lakers started to finally make things interesting late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, getting it to a 7-point game with 2:40 remaining.
With 1:23 left, Jae Crowder hit a three to give the Suns a 10-point lead and put the game away.
Game 5 in Phoenix is next on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
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