LOS ANGELES — Maybe the Lakers’ recent success prevented them from closely inspecting their process prior to Monday night’s home game against the Phoenix Suns.
Maybe it was them playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and the third time in four nights, against a physical Suns team that forces teams into mistakes.
Or maybe a combination of those factors led to the Lakers producing their least energetic performance in nearly three weeks in a 125-108 defeat that snapped their seven-game winning streak.
Because even with Luka Doncic (38 points, 11 rebounds and five assists) delivering another strong start and recording his sixth straight double-double, the Lakers (15-5) couldn’t overcome their self-inflicted mistakes in their final game before a three-game East Coast road trip that begins Thursday in Toronto.
The Suns (13-9) scored 30 points off of the Lakers’ season-high 22 turnovers, helping Phoenix record a 28-2 advantage in fast-break scoring.
For all of his brilliant shot-making, Doncic was equally as responsible for the Lakers’ sloppy play, recording nine of the team’s turnovers.
Austin Reaves (16 points on 6-of-12 shooting) added five turnovers.
LeBron James, who finished with 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting to extend his streak of scoring in double digits to 1,297 games, had three turnovers.
Phoenix was led by Dillon Brooks (33 points) and Collin Gillespie (career-high 28 points and five assists) after star guard Devin Booker (11 points in 10 minutes) was ruled out in the second quarter because of a groin injury.
Doncic scored 20 first-quarter points in the second consecutive games, and third time in the last four games, to help the Lakers keep pace with the Suns, with the score tied at 31-all entering the second.
The Lakers had their largest lead midway through the second when they were ahead 41-35. The Suns closed the quarter on a 19-4 run over the last four minutes to take a 66-52 lead into halftime.
The Suns maintained a double-digit lead for the entire second half, pushing the margin as high as 25 points (113-88) in the fourth.
Brooks scored 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting in the first half, taking the offensive lead with Booker sidelined. Gillespie added 16 of his 28 in the fourth quarter and made a career-best eight 3-pointers for Phoenix, which had lost three of it past four games.
James’ double-digit scoring streak appeared to be in jeopardy for much of Monday with him entering the fourth with just six points.
But less than a minute after splitting a pair of free throws, the four-time league MVP knocked down a stepback 3-pointer with 6:51 left to keep his record-extending streak alive. He finished with 10 points.
More to come on this story.