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The LA Lakers dominated the new-look Phoenix Suns in LeBron James’ and Anthony Davis’ NBA 2020-21 preseason debut.
The Lakers’ All-Star duo took matters into their own hands as the Chris Paul-led Suns tried hard to win the game.
LA Lakers featured LeBron James and Anthony Davis from the opening tip
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For the first time this NBA preseason, LeBron James and Anthony Davis suited up for the LA Lakers, with the Phoenix Suns as their opponent on Wednesday night.
The Suns led early as Chris Paul orchestrated his side’s offense to perfection. At the same time, James struggled early on as he tried to dust off the cobwebs from not playing in the first two preseason games.
However, the 4-time MVP found his groove as the match went along, taking the game over as he has been doing throughout his entire career. As a result, the Lakers caught up to the Suns in the first half.
Here is how Twitterati reacted to LeBron James' performance:
LeBron's connection with Marc Gasol was apparent, and it was hilariously depicted in this timely gif image from a Twitter user:
Meanwhile, the Suns’ broadcasting team was wary of Talen Horton-Tucker and was even possibly excited to see the preseason star.
With a new backcourt partner, Phoenix Suns superstar Devin Booker struggled from the beginning, and so did the rest of his team.
Anthony Davis was also a force in the middle as evidenced by his monster block on Paul. In response to the tweet featuring Davis’ swat, one Twitter user sarcastically referred to Paul as a former Laker.
If you can recall, the 6-foot-1 point guard nearly became a member of the LA Lakers back in 2011 but the trade was vetoed by the NBA citing “basketball reasons”.
James and Davis were so good they gave the Lakers a substantial lead heading into halftime.
Also Read: How Many rings do Lakers have?
The 3rd Quarter belonged to the Phoenix Suns as LA Lakers rested LeBron James and Anthony Davis
The LA Lakers’ All-Star combo sat out the rest of the game, and the Suns promptly went to work, taking the lead in the third quarter.
6-foot-11 center DeAndre Ayton took matters into his own hands, leading the Suns in scoring as Phoenix went on a lengthy run to take a 14-point lead as the third quarter-buzzer sounded.
Ayton had 21 points at the end of three quarters but the Suns decided to rest their star knowing that this was just an exhibition game.
One fan wanted to temper the semi-trash talk coming from the Suns’ official Twitter account. But whoever was tweeting for the Suns wouldn’t let it go.
As if on cue, the LA Lakers went on a run of their own, with Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker leading the way.
Heading into the final minutes of the game, the LA Lakers were still ahead of the Phoenix Suns.
Another fan tweeted how good he thought Horton-Tucker was. Whether you agree with him or not is up to you.
In the end, the Lakers’ bench was simply too good for the Suns’ reserves.
Looks like that Suns fan was right to warn the Suns’ Twitter account about being too cocky. You know what the good book says: pride goes before destruction.
Will LA Lakers coach Frank Vogel play LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their next preseason game?
Stay tuned to find out!
