National Basketball Association

Lakers, Suns look to end slumps

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:56 p.m. ET

foxsports

LOS ANGELES -- Two struggling teams trying to find themselves meet Friday night at Staples Center.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns both looked like lost causes lately.

The Lakers, who are on a four-game slide, were handed a humiliating 134-95 loss at Houston on Wednesday, the third time they lost by 30 or more points. The Rockets converted 28 Los Angeles turnovers into 42 points and blew the game open by outscoring their counterparts 39-22 in the third quarter.

"We just didn't compete," Lakers guard Lou Williams told the Los Angeles Times. Williams scored a team-high 24 points but committed six turnovers in the defeat. "Simple game to me. Any time you ask me questions, I'm not going to give you answers about numbers. It's a simple game. You play hard, play smart, you play together, you give yourself an opportunity to win. We didn't do any of those things."

Injuries continue to hamper the Lakers (10-14). They remain without starting point guard D'Angelo Russell (sore left knee), starting shooting guard Nick Young (calf strain, right leg), backup guard Jose Calderon (right hamstring strain) and reserve center/forward Tarik Black (right ankle sprain). None of the four is expected to be available against the Suns.

Without them, Los Angeles' bench, which started out as the most productive in the NBA, is severely depleted. Instead, Lakers coach Luke Walton has been forced to use eight different starting lineups in the past 11 games, including a stretch of five variations in five consecutive contests.

"Obviously we're missing key players, you're gonna lose games," Walton said, according to the Times, "but if we're just sitting around as a team saying, 'Hey, let's just wait for Nick and D'Angelo and this guy and that guy to get back,' what kind of mindset is that? You come out and you play hard."

The Suns (6-16) are in the midst of a parallel slump. Phoenix dropped its past three games and five of its past six, a 109-94 setback at home to the Indiana Pacers being the latest debacle.

The Suns are off to one of their worst starts in the past 20 years.

"We just didn't execute and they did," said Suns guard Devin Booker, who scored 13 points against the Pacers. "That was the difference in the game. It comes down to stops. We didn't get those. We know we're not the most talented team in the league, so we know every game has to be a dogfight for us. That's what we have to do."

As with the Lakers, defense is one of the problems for Phoenix. The Suns rank 29th in points allowed (113 per game) and are tied for 25th in opponents field-goal shooting (46.4 percent).

Los Angeles are giving up an average of 110.3 points per game (27th), and they rank last in opposing teams' shooting (48 percent).

The Lakers are 26th in turnovers (16.4 per game), and the Suns are 25th (16.3).

In their initial meeting on Nov. 6 at Staples, the Lakers defeated the Suns 119-108.