The Los Angeles Lakers finished their preseason with a close game against the Phoenix Suns. Although the match ultimately ended in a loss, the young Lakers showed plenty of promise on both ends of the floor in their final tune-up before the start of the regular season.
The Lakers received strong play from two of their returning starters: D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. Russell played perhaps the best defensive game of his preseason, while getting to the lane and drawing contact or dishing out assists, offensively.
Randle brought the energy in the second half. He played similarly great defense, especially in instances where he switched out on Suns’ guard Devin Booker. Offensively, he had several great passes in transition, and played a mostly calm half-court game despite some of the usual struggles (read: jump shots.)
The Lakers’ defense as a whole was much better against Phoenix. Keyed by Jordan Clarkson’s remarkable efforts against Booker in the second half, LA was able to turn defense into offense on multiple occasions to large success.
In the latest episode of Laker Film Room, Pete Zayas analyzes all of this and more from the loss against Phoenix. As he shows throughout the video, the negatives are still there, but there are a lot of promising signs to take away from the game.
Be sure to follow Pete on Twitter and subscribe to Laker Film Room on YouTube.
