NBA

Kuzma Scores 30, Ball Walks Past Skirmish, Suns Get Win

The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns played for the third time in the first month of NBA season and the Suns finally came away with a victory

Rookie Kyle Kuzma scored 28 of his career-high 30 points in the second half of Friday's game against the Phoenix Suns, but that still wasn't enough for the Los Angeles Lakers to come away with a victory at Staples Center.

"It's cool, but I'm a winner," Kuzma said about his career-high after the game. "I like to win. Stats really don't matter to me. I just try to play hard, and I want to win."

The Lakers dropped to 6-10 for the 2017-18 season after Phoenix won by a final count of 122-113 in a sloppy game featuring 34 turnovers with LA responsible for 19 of those giveaways. Kuzma tabbing a career-high for the second game in succession provided a silver lining, but five losses in their past six games had to have the Lakers worried about starting a skid that could be difficult to stop, especially considering a cold December schedule waiting in the wings.

For the visitors, Devin Booker scored 33 points to finish as the high scorer in the game, but the shooting guard had help from his point guard and the bench. Tyler Ulis scored 15 points and handed out seven assists, while Alex Len scored 17 points and pulled down a monstrous 18 rebounds off the Suns' bench. Also, Dragan Bender hit three of his four three-point attempts off a productive Suns' reserve unit.

For the home team, Brandon Ingram came out aggressive for the second game in a row, but the 20-year-old forward finished with 17 points after scoring 12 in the first quarter alone. Foul trouble hampered the North Carolina native in the first half, but the second-year forward didn't seem to find his spots with as much regularity past the first 12 minutes.

Lakers center Brook Lopez tabbed a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and fellow frontcourt mate Kuzma also tabbed a double-double with 10 rebounds to accompany his team high 30 points. For the rookie, Friday marked the fifth career double-double of the season and fourth time he's hit that statistical mark in the past eight games. Since becoming a starter in Larry Nance Jr.'s absence, Kuzma is 50-50 to record a double-double and 100 percent to score in double figures.

Lonzo Ball, who came into the night sporting a new haircut, finished with six points, six rebounds, six assists, five steals and a block in 38 minutes on the court. Ball made three of his seven shots on the night, and one of his missed shots appeared to be a goal-tending call the refs missed and another miss was a layup that rimmed out.

All-in-all, Ball had a decent night at the office and certainly a better night than two days earlier against Philadelphia, when the rookie missed eight of his nine shots, scored two points and got benched for the entire fourth quarter.

In the closing moments of the game, a small skirmish erupted near the scorers' table and involved several Suns and Lakers' players. Three players earned technical fouls for the pushing and shoving. Meanwhile, Ball earned a fair amount of criticism for looking over at the pushing and shoving, wiping the sweat from his brow and casually walking away from the action, rather than helping his teammates.

"It's the NBA," Ball said when asked about the incident. "People ain't really going to fight, so I ain't trying to get no tech."

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Only 16 games into his NBA career, the loss to Phoenix will likely be best remembered as the night Ball learned about his unwritten obligation to stand up for his teammates. If nothing else, Friday's Lakers' loss came with a lesson.

Correction: This article has been corrected to state that Brandon Ingram is a North Carolina native, not a Georgia native.

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