Game Preview: The Suns face the Lakers and are expected to start the season 2-0

WHO: Phoenix Suns (1-0) @ Los Angeles Lakers (1-0)

When: 7:00 p.m. Arizona time

Where: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, California

Regard: ESPN, Arizona's Family 3TV, Arizona's Family Sports

Hear: KMVP 98.7

The Phoenix Suns are 1-0 after an ugly away win at the Clippers' brand new Intuit Dome in Inglewood. They fought hard and fought through some adversity and turnovers to secure a win after a strong fourth quarter and overtime.

The Suns travel 30 minutes north of Inglewood to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles to face the 1-0 Lakers. Phoenix will look to leave California 2-0 as they prepare for the Mavericks' home opener tomorrow night at Footprint Center.

Phoenix faced the Lakers twice in the preseason and split the two games, including an overtime thriller in which rookie Dalton Knecht secured a road win for the Lakers. The Suns have won their last two regular-season meetings against LA and finished last season 2-3 against the Lakers, including a loss in the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament.

Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

Likely starters

Injury report

Suns

• Grayson Allen – PROBABLY (right Achilles tendon pain)
• Bradley Beal – PROBABLY (right shoulder pain)
• Josh Okogie – OUT (right hamstring strain)

Lakers

• Jalen Hood-Schifino – doubtful (illness)
• Christian Koloko – OFF (Return to competition overhaul)
• Jarred Vanderbilt – OUT (recovering from right foot surgery)
• Christian Wood – OUT (recovering from right knee surgery)

Uniform matchup

What you should pay attention to

How does Book react?

While he shot efficiently, Devin Booker struggled to draw attention against Ty Lue's defense. The Clippers have done a good job of getting him out of his comfort zone and the Lakers will look to do the same.

Booker finished the game with 15 points on 5-9 shooting in 32 minutes and was fouled late in the game, causing him to miss the final minutes and overtime. Bradley Beal kept the Suns' offense going all game with an efficient 24 points, and Durant's late-season heroics helped secure the tough win.

However, the Suns will need their star to play aggressively early and often if they want to pull off another tough road win against LeBron and Co. History suggests he's in for a big game after a “dud.”

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

The key to a Suns win

Stop turning the ball over

This one is easy. It's a theme that (so far) looks like it's carried over from last season. Tyus Jones and Monte Morris did their jobs and combined for 10 assists and 0 turnovers. The rest of the team had 22 turnovers and only 15 assists, and that is unacceptable.

The unforced errors and constant loss of the ball while dribbling must end. This is not an overreaction of “one game” as this problem still exists all last season for this squad. The good news is that it was a season opener for the Suns with a playoff atmosphere in a new environment (arena). There is hope that we can do justice to this. Let's just hope that number gets halved tonight.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Include Anthony Davis

Davis overcame a strong Minnesota defense in the season opener, dropping 36 points and 16 rebounds in the win. The Suns don't have many players they can throw at him to slow him down, so Jusuf Nurkic and Mason Plumlee will have their hands full. It wouldn't be surprising to see these guys get into foul trouble early, which could lead to some minutes from Oso Ighodaro.

The Suns need to play by committee defense to protect the interior from players like Davis and James getting downhill and committing fouls. In addition to protecting the paint, with the attention their two stars are drawing, shutting down the shooters is crucial.

Keep launching threesomes.

The Suns hit 15 of 39 three-point attempts (39.5%) against the Clippers on Wednesday night. The big three did the heavy lifting in this percentage and did the majority of it efficiently.

The bad news is that the rest of the team combined to shoot 5/22 from three, which is 22.7%. Not ideal! However, they still need to persevere, especially Grayson Allen, Tyus Jones and Monte Morris. The goal for this Suns team should be to reach the 40 attempts mark (or close to it) all season long.

forecast

The Suns are cleaning up a few things, looking a lot more organized and taking care of the roadkill Staples Crypto after a bounceback play from Devin Booker, who goes for an efficient 32-ball.

Suns 117, Lakers 111