Devin Booker And Suns Send Lebron James Home | 2021 NBA Playoffs

If that was you on the phone and you on the bus, then who was flickering the light? So didn't have much success versus Sun, so now I am gearing my attention to the Goon Squad here in July, in mid-July. So I'm gonna let the ankle rest for about a month and then I'm gonna gear up with Lola, Taz, Granny, Bugs, you know, and the rest of the crew. So hopefully see y'all at the match. Cut like a scratch, never acting, I've never been Short on my words while you're holding your breath like a asthma attack in him Why are you testing me? Can't be investing no time in this Team's so focused, we are ballin' to butter him I used to pole forward, digged it down, my stomach all in a twist I had to ditch the cup, yeah, now I got those water bottles in I had some real dark days, now things are looking real positive One's who I peel apart, ways I don't need no parts, I'm friends I guess that's how the game goes, lifestyle getting real real Lifestyle is a M4, I'm a one, only one dawg What's up, YF Sportsmen, it's Lamont. We are back with another game reaction video. Game 6, potential elimination game for the Los Angeles Lakers in LA. You know, coming off of a devastating loss to the Phoenix Suns here in Phoenix a couple of days ago, it was everyone's belief that the Lakers would actually, with or without Anthony Davis, redeem themselves and find a way to force a game 7 with LeBron James, the best player in the game. And it's actually a supporting cast that, in the past, they've shown themselves adequate and formidable enough to pull off a victory of this magnitude. Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns had other plans as they came out looking to strike early, and strike early they did. We're going to get to those highlights here in a second. Before we get started, make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe. And subscribe to the YouTube channel. Hit the notification bell if you haven't already. So make sure, again, if you're watching, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube page, where we drop all of these videos. We're going to be following the playoffs, the NBA playoffs, very closely this season as we transition to other sports as well. But tonight, the biggest focus was on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James, a player who's never lost in the first round of any playoff series. Never lost in the first round. Would he go down today against Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns? Well, the Phoenix Suns definitely put on a show today. We're going to get to those stats, and we're going to get to our thoughts about this game, the potential future of the Lakers. What's next for Phoenix? And also, how far can this Phoenix Suns team go through the Western Conference? They took out, taken out a giant. One of the Giants is down. If the Clippers fall to the Dallas Mavericks, are the Phoenix Suns the clear-cut favorites to get out the Western Conference? But we're going to get to those things later. Let's go ahead and get over to the drawing board to check out these highlights for game six, Lakers-Suns. Here we go right here, Phoenix Suns. They started this game off hot, on fire, just making everything, making all threes. You see Cronner start the game off with a three right there, and that was just indicative of the entire night. It's Devin Booker. You're talking about he came out as like a man on a mission today. This first quarter, he was on fire, and it did not stop throughout the entire night. LeBron James, one of his multiple threes that he made trying to keep the Lakers afloat early on, but Devin Booker. Devin Booker could not be stopped today with another step-back three right there. Drive to the basket there. We see the Lakers wanted a few transition opportunities right here to cut that early lead down by the Phoenix Suns to 16-7. Lakers, KCP, tough three right here, and the Phoenix Suns did a great job all night of making everything the Lakers did extremely tough. Wow. Devin Booker made everything, even highly contested shots, look easy, as you can see right there. Devin Booker, and then mistake, mistake, mistake defensively by the Lakers, and Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns made the Lakers pay every single time. They didn't miss a beat. Kyle Kuzma with the running hook right here down the lane. His only two points of the night, man. Kuzma, big-time disappointment today with only two points on the night and four rebounds Devin Booker with another top-of-the-key three-point shot right in Schroeder's face, and Devin Booker coming off the DHO. Bang. Another three right there for Devin Booker, man. Mistake after mistake after mistake for the Los Angeles Lakers. They fell for every action that the Phoenix Suns ran, and Devin Booker found his rhythm. Montrez Harrell, good put-back dunk right there, but that was his only two points of the night. Disappointing night for Montrez Harrell, who found himself in a position where he could not defend the Phoenix Suns' bigs. Horton Tucker with a bucket in the lane right here. Horton Tucker had an okay night with 12 points, two rebounds. It just wasn't enough. He wasn't able to find his rhythm, and the Phoenix Suns did a good job of making Horton Tucker shoot contested buckets. Chris Paul is just that calm and forced. Whether he makes assists or whether he doesn't, he's able to control the pace of this game, and that's exactly what he did. He did not let the Lakers get in the transition the way they wanted to, whether they were making shots or not. KCP with a solid three right there. LeBron James, and I felt like James, even though he gets to assist there, I just felt like he was too passive tonight. I felt like he was looking to pass too much early. We saw him get aggressive late in the game, but early on in the game, he was passing far too much, especially as you see the Phoenix Suns jump out to a 20-point lead, 52-31, going into the middle of the second quarter. Devin Booker right here just dices them up again. Contested threes, just breaking the hearts of the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James, top of the key three right here. He's really doing the most he can. Without Anthony Davis and without Key Pieces, without everybody being fully healthy, they just looked handicapped without that centerpiece of the defense and the core piece of their offense on the court, and Anthony Davis, who actually tried to play, but that growing pain was just too much, and he was out for the rest of the game. LeBron James, deep three right here. Way to fight Wes Matthews, but you got to look. The Phoenix Suns are making the Lakers play from behind, 64-46 in the third quarter. They can play through mistakes. I knew the Lakers would make a run. It was always going to be about did the Phoenix Suns give themselves enough cushion to withstand any runs that the Lakers make on this home court, where it's extremely hard to win. Schroeder, man, big time night. I felt like Schroeder's energy really kept this team afloat. He had 20 points, three rebounds, and three assists on the night. Schroeder with a solid game. His pressure on Booker late in the game is really what kept the Lakers in it, but really no other Lakers, especially in this second half, looked like they really wanted to take up this challenge of bouncing back after Phoenix hit him in the mouth in the first half. LeBron James finally starts to go to the basket in the second half, and it pays some dividends. Actually, the Lakers started to fight back, showing some signs of life, cutting the lead down. Right here, 86-69, LeBron James puts his head down, gets to the rim, bucket right there on Devin Booker on the switch. Again, this is where they start showing signs of life. LeBron James with the dunk off the pick and roll. Crowd's getting into it. How do the Phoenix Suns respond, and how do they respond? They respond with Devin Booker when he sees Kyle Kuzma with a misplay on the pick and roll. Another dagger three from the top of the key, but KCP answers immediately with a three-point play of his own. Cuts the lead to 13, and the Lakers just couldn't dice into the lead any more than that. I was hoping that it felt like the Lakers would be able to cut into it, get it down to single digits, and they just never were able to do so. Never were able to do so, and once again, we saw that same trend with the Los Angeles Lakers, looking for the refs to bail them out, and when they didn't, plays like this happen as we see Wes Matthews on the ground allows Cam Johnson to get that open three off in the corner. LeBron James, great pass in there to Schroeder. Suns defense gets caught sleeping. 14 with eight minutes to go. Kyle Kuzma with a great play right here. Layup gets blocked, but KCP is able to follow up with the putback layup. They cut it down to 10. All right, can they get it under single digits? No. Chris Paul, the ultimate common force for the Phoenix Suns. This is why they brought him to Phoenix. Dices the Laker defense up again with a mid-range jumper, and he comes through again as Taylor Hortucker, with the unforgivable sin of leaving ball side corner, gives up another three, and Phoenix boosts that lead back up again. Taylor Hortucker tries, and every time the Lakers tried to come back, they always made mistakes defensively that cost them. Great putback dunk right there. Again, another indication, everyone thought that this is where they make their run, this is where they make their final stand, but what did the Lakers do? The three ball. The three ball is what killed the Lakers all night. Gaffs and misreads on the three-point line cost them. Schroeder keeps them alive towards the end of the game there. 13-point lead. LeBron James with a turnover, though, to end the game. And Mikael Bridges, man, really, they start to put the dagger in the Lakers here. LeBron James bullies his way to the paint, and this is what I wanted to see in the first half. I wanted to see this aggressive LeBron James. Don't turn on now. You got to get aggressive like that early on in the game before the Phoenix Suns build up this massive lead that you have to come fight back from. LeBron James hits another three there. A three-pointer in garbage time. Ultimately meaningless right there, all right? But the Phoenix Suns and Devin Booker are able to finish off the Los Angeles Lakers 113-100. Phoenix wins the series 4-2. Devin Booker, 47 points on 15, a 22 shoot, 8 attempt from the three-point line, and 11 rebounds. What a game right there, man. The defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, have been eliminated from the playoffs. The season filled with a lot of ups and downs from the Lakers. We saw the Lakers start the season off after having a great off-season to pick up Amantres Harrell and Dennis Schroeder, even Mark Gasol, even picking up Andre Drummond midseason. Everyone was thinking the Lakers would be primed to win the NBA championship again, but man, injuries really decimated this team. And not just decimated the team, it put them in a position to where they not only had to fight for that seventh seed by playing in a playing game, but then they have to play one of the hottest teams, one of the most versatile, one of the most defensive savvy teams coached by Monte Williams in the league. They have to face Devin Booker and Chris Paul. All right, LeBron James did his best in this game, 6, 29 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists. Some of those points definitely came at the end of the game where they were meaningless. I just wanted to see LeBron James really be aggressive early, and we didn't see that. I saw this man passing far too much, being way too passive, not being aggressive, not dictating the pace. He allowed Chris Paul and Devin Booker to be the ones to dictate the flow and pace of this game, and not him. Looks like he was relying on the other guys to ultimately get going. When you have to be, when you're the best player in the world, you have to be the moving force for this team. You have to get them going. You cannot wait for these guys to start making shots, especially when you're one of the worst shooting teams in the league, and that's what happened. LeBron James, 29 points, KCP, Cardwell Pope with 19 points, 3 rebounds. He had some solid defense, but Devin Booker was picking this man apart all night. Dennis Schroeder, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists. Wes Matthews, 12 points, 6 rebounds, but he missed a lot of timely threes. Wes Matthews is not the same player, not the same defender that he used to be. Taylor Horton Tucker, 12 points, 2 rebounds. Kyle Kuzma, one of the most biggest disappointments, and I will dare say Kyle Kuzma is now a bust. Kyle Kuzma is now officially a bust. Kwame Brown, you're not the only one to be a bust in this NBA. Kyle Kuzma has been on the decline since his rookie season. He's shown that whenever he's in a winning situation, whenever it's winning time and the odds are against him, Kyle Kuzma consistently, time and time again, folds when the pressure mounts. He is not a reliable player. He's shown himself to be a complete bust in my eyes. 2 points, 4 rebounds on the night, 18 minutes. He was not worth anything offensively or defensively. Alex Garruso had to leave the game early with the ankle strain. Montrezl Harrell, man, 2 points, 2 rebounds. Again, what do you want Frank Vogel to do? Again, he cannot magically make this man, Montrezl Harrell, start playing defense, even though I like Montrezl Harrell's energy. I like this energy. I would have loved to see him play simply because he brought energy, but Montrezl Harrell relegated this guy to the bench because of his defensive struggles. Andre Drummond. Andre Drummond didn't see a minute of time today for whatever reason. Again, in a game like this, when you need everybody, when you need everybody playing, Andre Drummond was a DNP. Didn't do anything. Andre Drummond didn't do anything, did not play. Nobody knows why. I'm assuming we'll get more news on that, but again, these are things that the Lakers are going to have to figure out in the offseason because the way this team looked, whenever LeBron James was on the floor, they looked inefficient. They looked like they couldn't score. They definitely couldn't defend, and the Phoenix really picked this team apart. It looked like LeBron James was really starting to get gassed at points in this game, but I think he gassed himself because he put his team in a situation where they were down so much. They were fighting so hard to get back. By the time they got within striking range, they were all gassed, and they couldn't defend at a consistent pace or level, but the Phoenix is on the flip side, man. You got to give a big congratulations to this team. James Jones, the GM of this team, Coach Manny Williams, who definitely in my eyes should be coach of the year, possibly co-coach of the year with Tom Thibodeau. They've done a great job with not just assembling this team, but giving everybody roles on this team that they can all identify with. We know that Devin Booker desperately wanted to get into the playoffs after a shaky start to the season. The Phoenix Suns got their footing. Once they got everything situated, everybody was healthy, this Phoenix Suns team had found themselves at the two-spot playing the Los Angeles Lakers. What did they not do? They didn't complain about having to play the Lakers. They didn't shy away from the challenge. They actually stepped up to the challenge, and they overcame massive odds where a lot of people had the Lakers win in the series. Jay Crowder in this game started the game off great. Great defense on LeBron James. He antagonized him all night. He was physical with him. He was physical with all of the Laker players. 18 points, eight rebounds. Mikael Bridges was a defensive force. He was able to make open and timely threes, 10.6 rebounds. Aiden, not a great scoring game for him. He got in some foul trouble, but he was solid with eight points, three rebounds. Devin Booker, 47 points. Devin Booker, 47 points, 11 rebounds with a double-double. Chris Paul. I mean, it felt like Chris Paul had 20 points this game, but he only had eight. He was all over the court. He controlled pace of the game. Eight points, two rebounds, 12 assists. You have Cam Johnson. Cam Johnson, another one of those wings similar to Mikael Bridges. Extremely versatile, can shoot, can defend, has length, 10 points. Four rebounds, two assists coming off the bench. Torrey Craig. Numbers don't show it, but this guy Torrey Craig was extremely vital to this team's success today. Torrey Craig, three points, four rebounds. But in the few minutes that he played, it was his effort and his ability to defend that helped kind of rattle what the Lakers were trying to do time and time again. Cameron Payne, a much quieter game. He's been a force in this series. Only seven points, one rebound, one assist. But again, it's just about making those timely buckets. It was those timely buckets from guys like Cam Johnson, Cameron Payne. Even Torrey Craig had a big bucket. DeAndre Ayton had a big layup late in that game. Crowder had some big threes early and late in that game. It was about timely buckets. And the Phoenix Suns reserves and the Phoenix Suns role players really stepped up in this game. Salute to the Phoenix Suns, man, who've done a masterful job of putting this team together, done a masterful job of assembling the right coaching staff. They've done a masterful job of giving everybody on this Phoenix Suns team big roles that they can identify with. And so when they go into series like this, there's no questions asked who can shine where. They were able to identify matchups. They saw that the Los Angeles Lakers struggled in the pick and roll or in DHOs, where you're dealing with players who can shoot. And they consistently put Devin Booker in those DHO situations where the Laker defenders and the Laker bigs really had to think. They couldn't just stand in the paint. They made those bigs move laterally. And once they made them move laterally, they burned them with Ayton or Chris Paul and Devin Booker would eat them up from the mid-range to the three-point line. So you got to give a big salute to the Phoenix Suns and LA Lakers, man. The Phoenix Suns will be moving on. They will be moving on to play the Denver Nuggets, who defeated the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this evening. Again, it only gets easier for the Phoenix Suns from here out. It only gets easier for them. They're going to be playing a Denver team who are similar in styles. They both have a lot of length. All of their bigs can shoot threes. It's going to be a battle of two forces. Devin Booker, is he going to be able to counter Nikoli Jokic, seemingly the MVP of the league? Similar paces. They both struggle defensively at times, but they both can defend adequately. I think Phoenix is a bit better defensively. I give Phoenix the slight edge in that series. I think Chris Paul is going to be the ultimate difference maker. I think point guard play is really going to affect Denver in this next series. I want you guys to let me know in the comments what you think. If you're on news break, come on over to YouTube. Make sure you jump in these comments. Let us know what you think about this matchup with the Phoenix Suns. I think they did a masterful job, and I think they have a prime opportunity to get to the Western Conference Finals against Denver. I think that matchup favors them. I think they're deeper. I think they have better point guard play, and I think they have the length and the size to bother Jokic enough to give him problems so he's not as effective as we've seen him be. As far as the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, first time he's ever lost in the first round of the playoffs. It's been a hectic season for him. Coming off a championship year in the bubble, short break, no training cap, not a lot of time to rejuvenate, get healthy. We saw the residual effects of last year. The Lakers went all in in the bubble last year, but they didn't have much time to prepare for this season. No excuses. You have to still come back out and play, but we saw Anthony Davis go down mid-season with a number of injuries. We saw LeBron James go down, albeit it wasn't really wear and tear, but it was a freak injury, but LeBron James was out. We saw Alex Caruso out. We saw a lot of these players out this season. They brought Drummond in. Drummond never found his footing with this team. He never acclimated. He never gelled. He never found a role. He just seemed like he didn't fit. He never bought in defensively. Frank Vogel just didn't have enough time to instill that in him, even though I thought Drummond could be a force on the defensive end if he bought in defensively up here, and he never did. We have players like Kyle Kuzma. I think it's time for the Lakers to give up on a guy like Kyle Kuzma. I think they've given him multiple chance after multiple chance, even giving him an extension this season for that financial security. Kyle Kuzma has still not shown up. In a game like today, he looked like a deer in headlights whenever he touched the ball. He's looking to LeBron, what should I do? How do I get you the ball? Oh, let me just chuck this shot up. He never drove with intent. He never defended with intent. It's almost still like he feels as if he doesn't grasp defensive concepts. What are they going to do with Devin Booker in this offseason? That's going to be a big question right there. I think the Lakers and this roster, they got a lot of questions to ask. You're talking about you have two starters, Anthony Davis, who had to leave this game early. Obviously, he was out with a growing strain. No one believed he would be ready to play this game. But Marc Gasol, 18 minutes on zero points and seven assists and three rebounds. I mean, you got to give us more than that. I mean, they brought you in as a stretch big potentially to make threes. And you're not giving us that right there. A lot of these reserves, Dudley, McKinney, and Ben McLemore definitely didn't see the floor. But man, when you talk about premier players, Montrezl Harrell, runner up or sixth man of the year last year. Expected a lot out of him. This is a 20-point per game score. He's relegated to the bench. Caruso, Morris. Morris, who shot over 50% from the three-point line last year in the playoffs. Only two points tonight in 16 minutes. He was one of their better defenders and one of their better shooters. But today, he missed everything. Where did the Lakers go? Do they get younger? Do they look to bring in a third all-star? What direction does Jeanne Buss and this team go? I definitely do not know. But I am curious to see. This offseason is going to be very interesting because the Los Angeles Lakers have to make changes to get better. LeBron James is getting older. They've just burnt up another year with LeBron James there where they're not making a deep run in the playoffs. No excuses going in the next season, you guys. Now with no deep run in the playoffs, everyone has plenty of time to get healthy. You have plenty of time to formulate a plan on what type of roster you want to come back with. You have plenty of time to figure out, do you want to bring Frank Vogel back? Which I think they should. I definitely don't think he's the problem. But the Lakers have to get it figured out soon because LeBron James, soon to be 37 or 38 years old, is not going to be able to continue playing at an uber high level. You're going to have to maximize these last few years that you have with LeBron James. At least you have these players secured under contract. Anthony Davis, who signed long-term. LeBron James, who's also re-signed as well. Those two things are locked in, so now it's going to be about building around these guys. Trading is not realistic. Again, let's not go with the trade talk, you guys. That's not realistic. That's not going to happen. But how can the Lakers bolster this roster? It's not realistic. They're not going to have a good draft pick. None of that's going to happen. What players, what free agents are out there do you think they could bring in? Some people are saying Zach Levine. Some people are still saying Bradley Beal, who seemed a bit disgruntled. He seemed a bit disgruntled in that post-game conference as the Wizards were eliminated. You have Yusuf Nurkic. He's a client. He's a client of Rich Paul's. Maybe that connection brings him over to the Lakers on a deal because we know that the Lakers need another big. There's going to be a lot of movement in this off-season with the Los Angeles Lakers. I predicted in a past video, major shake-ups if they cannot beat the Phoenix Suns and major shake-ups there will be. Hey, make sure you guys hop in the comments, man. Chat it up about this, man. You know I'm going to be interacting with you guys in those comments. I really want to know your thoughts about this. Los Angeles Lakers go down to the Phoenix Suns, 113-100. LeBron James, first time losing in the first round of the playoffs. What's next for the Los Angeles Lakers? And how far can the Phoenix Suns go now that they've taken out the team that a lot of people thought were title contenders this year? All right, we'll be back. We'll be back with more. We got a lot of live streams to come. We got more NBA recaps and playoff games to cover. So make sure you subscribe. Hit the notification bell here for FYF Sports. We're going to be covering it all. Hey, it's FYF Sports, man. It's been a great podcast episode. We'll be back with more sports news later. But until then, it's FYF Sports. And we're out.