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Lakers vs. Suns, Three Things to Know

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ALL-STAR BACKCOURT

L.A. is fresh off consecutive games of excellent defense against All-Star point guards Damian Lillard of Portland and Steph Curry of Golden State, in which they deployed frequent traps to force respective teammates to try and beat a fast, scrambling defense. But with the addition of Chris Paul, the Suns have a pair of All-Stars, making it more difficult to focus the attention of the defense on either CP3 or Devin Booker, who’s fresh off a 43-point effort at Minnesota.

LEBRON’S DEFENSE

As much as Schroder’s return has been a boost, the biggest reason for L.A.’s last two wins was the play of LeBron James, starting with his command of the defensive end of the court. From the start of the game against Portland, he was both flying around off the basketball, standing his man up on the ball, and calling out coverages for his teammates. He had four steals and three blocks for the 7th time in his career (plus four in the postseason) in the 102-93 win against Portland, and two more of each in just 24 minutes of a 117-91 blowout of the Warriors.

SUNS NOTES:

3rd in corner 3s (4.4) and 3rd in corner 3 percentage (44.0%). Mikal Bridges (37; 4th) and Cameron Johnson (36; 5th) are both among the top 5 in individual corner 3s.