Moritz Wagner drove for a layup to put the Los Angeles Lakers up by 31 points and his teammates erupted off the bench in spontaneous glee for their German rookie’s first NBA field goal.
“He learned how to ride a bike,” LeBron James said afterward.
“That was that moment. You guys never rode a bike before? Yeah, we were excited. Very excited,” he said.
Photo: AP
The Lakers had plenty of time for fun and frivolity after making easy work of the Phoenix Suns during the latest win in an increasingly impressive season.
Kyle Kuzma on Sunday scored 23 points and James had 22, before both sat out the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ third home victory in four days, 120-96 over the struggling Suns.
Brandon Ingram scored 15 points, while JaVale McGee had 14 points and eight rebounds in three quarters of work for the Lakers, who have won 12 of 16 since their 2-5 start to James’ first season on the west coast.
Michael Beasley scored a season-high 14 points for the Lakers.
Although they fell behind by 17 points in the first quarter, they still made easy work of last-placed Phoenix, despite committing 19 turnovers.
“I was very happy with our defensive effort again,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “I thought we came out a little flat. Michael Beasley and the second unit did a really good job of getting us started, and then from that point on the rest of the guys had a pretty solid game.”
Richaun Holmes scored 15 points, while Josh Jackson and Trevor Ariza scored 13 apiece for the Suns, who have lost five straight to fall to 4-19.
“It’s kind of hard not to focus on the record, but we’ve still got games to play,” Jackson said. “We show flashes of how good we could be. We just have to be able to start stringing those runs together and just be better all the time. The more consistent we get, the better we’ll be.”
No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton had 10 points and 10 rebounds, but the Suns could not build on their excellent first quarter.
“Obviously, we can’t be happy with the final result, but I thought we came ready to play, to compete,” Phoenix coach Igor Kokoskov said.
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