After falling behind by 22 points in the first half, the Lakers stormed back in the second half to move to 2-0 on the season, knocking off the Suns, 123-116.

Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves shouldered a lot of the offensive load. AD ended with 35 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocks. Austin scored 26 points to go with his eight assists and three steals.

After a slow first half with just four points, LeBron James finished with 21 points, four rebounds and eight assists. Rui Hachimura pitched in with 14 points, including a big late 3-pointer, and seven rebounds.

Kevin Durant opened the scoring with one of his seemingly automatic 3-pointers. The Lakers then took the lead following a dunk by AD, but KD was doing a little bit of everything, scoring at ease. Austin was the leading scorer for LA, only missing one shot.

After a game with just seven turnovers against the Timberwolves, the Lakers were quickly up to four in the first. Phoenix opened their lead to eight on a mini Devin Booker run. The Suns were shooting the lights out from behind the arc.

At the end of the first, LA was down 15.

Phoenix started the second with another three and a layup to put LA down by 20. The Suns were putting on a show as they couldn’t miss and destroyed any energy the Lakers had.

Dalton Knecht came in and knocked down two 3-pointers, which injected some life into the team and crowd, but KD silenced it with a midrange shot.

The momentum began to shift as the Lakers began making more shots and defending much better. LA was playing much harder than Phoenix, who seemed to look disheveled. They quickly rectified that with Devin and KD scoring back-to-back shots.

Still, by halftime, LA was only down nine.

The second half started nicely for the Lakers. They woke up from behind the arc with Austin and LeBron knocking down 3-pointers and the purple and gold found themselves only down by one.

After a pair of free throws by AD, LA led by one. The Suns then took the lead back by three. Both teams were heating up with their offense. Phoenix jumped ahead by seven after the Lakers struggled again.

Things quickly changed once again as the Lakers went on an 8-0 capped off by a three from Gabe Vincent to take the lead back. A nice back-and-forth battle to end the quarter with the Lakers taking the lead by two.

The final frame opened with a LeBron fadeaway to bring his point total to 17 after a slow start in the first half. The lead for LA jumped to four after a strong dunk by Rui. Austin drilled a three and LA was rocking offensively.

Phoenix tried to slowly creep back into it, cutting the deficit to six after LA went up double digits. Austin once again knocked down a three and then D’Angelo Russell, who had been struggling, drilled a three. Los Angeles was up 12 with six minutes left.

It was a seven-point game after a pair of free throws from KD. The Lakers went up by nine after a dunk by AD on an assist from LeBron. While the Lakers were still up, Phoenix kept trying to inch closer and closer.

A three by Rui eclipsed the Suns’ attempt to come back. Phoenix tried to lengthen the game by fouling, but it wasn’t working in their favor.

Key Takeaways:

After shooting so poorly from behind the arc to start the game, LA woke up and shot much better. This will probably be a trend a lot this season. They’ll heat up at different times.

They played great defense that helped them come back from being down 22. Strong defense will be crucial for this team.

AD’s MVP case is off to a strong start this season. He has been incredible.

The Lakers’ next game is Saturday against the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 PM PT.