Nothing is easy for the Los Angeles Lakers these days. Especially when players like Royce O’Neale are doing what he did Thursday.
The veteran wing hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left to lift the short-handed Phoenix Suns to a 113-110 win over the Lakers, spoiling a double-digit comeback in the fourth quarter for Los Angeles.
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With two free throws and a layup in the Suns’ previous two possessions, O’Neale scored the team’s final seven points.
The Suns entered the game missing their top scorers in Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks due to injuries. Yet, they were competitive from the start against a nearly full-strength Lakers team.
They took a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, at which point the Lakers went to work. A 10-2 run made it a competitive game in the final minutes, and the Lakers tied the game with a minute left on an Austin Reaves 3-pointer.
O’Neale finished the game with 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, while Grayson Allen led the Suns with 26 points and 6 assists off the bench. It was a big Luka Dončić night on the other side, with 41 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
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Ultimately, the Suns’ strategy was to go to the 3-point line with their two most-used offensive players sidelined. They made 22 of 50 shots from deep, the most 3-pointers any team has attempted against the Lakers this season. Allen and Collin Gillespie combined for 27 of those shots, and made six each.
It was a supremely meaningful game for the standings as well. The Suns remain in seventh place in the Western Conference, but are now only a game back from the sixth-place Lakers for the final guaranteed playoff spot.
The Lakers have lost three straight games — their previous losses came against the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics — and are 19-20 since Dec. 1.