Friday night, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Phoenix Suns in the first game of the NBA’s first In-Season Tournament. This was the last game of their road trip.

The Lakers beat the Suns 122-119, which was their first win of the year thanks in part to Anthony Davis’s return from a one-game layoff. With three more games to go, the win makes it clear that the Lakers are still in the running to win Group A.

Darvin Ham changed the starting group by putting Cam Reddish in place of Austin Reaves to make the Lakers bigger. Early on, it looked like it was working because Reddish stole the ball and then made a corner 3-pointer. It made sense for the Lakers to change their lineup after getting off to a slow start, but they got out to an early 13-7 lead in this one.

Before coming back from a back injury, Bradley Beal got off to a great start for Phoenix in just his second game back. He kept his team in the game. Then Kevin Durant made a three-point play, which took away the Lakers’ early lead.

After that, the Lakers lost energy and had trouble scoring while the Suns got going and increased their lead to ten points for the first time.

After LeBron James seemed to hurt his leg for a moment, L.A. went into the second quarter behind 34–25. When he came back, though, he and Austin Reaves made some nice plays that got the Lakers back in the game.

But, as they have all season, the Lakers had a hard time keeping the Suns off the offensive glass. As a result, the Suns kept their lead at 10 points or more.

The only Lakers players to make a shot in the first half were Taurean Prince and D’Angelo Russell. At the end of the second quarter, James started to attack. As a result, L.A. went into halftime down 63–55 after Beal made a shot at the buzzer.

After a quiet first half, Davis started the third quarter with a quick basket. James then made two free throws to cut the gap back to four points, but Jusuf Nurkic quickly answered with five straight points.

After that, LeBron hit back-to-back threes to get hot and do everything he could to keep the Lakers in the game. Russell also kept up his good play, setting up friends like Davis for easy baskets.

But just when it looked like the Lakers were making progress, Durant made back-to-back threes and a three-point play to put Phoenix ahead by ten points again. Luckily, the Lakers were behind 96–79 going into the fourth quarter after Reddish made a 3 that beat the buzzer.

At the start of the fourth quarter, both Rui Hachimura and Reddish made three-pointers. Then, James set up Reaves for a fastbreak layup, which gave the Lakers their first lead since the beginning of the quarter.

After the Suns took a break, Reddish made another three-pointer to keep the run going. Eric Gordon then made a layup to end the run. The Lakers’ lead grew to five points when Christian Wood made another three-pointer. This made Frank Vogel call another timeout.

By making some big shots, Durant helped the Suns get back on track and keep the game close for what was going to be a fun ending.

Reddish made another big corner three to put his team ahead 118–113 with a minute to play. The Lakers had a hard time stopping Durant from the midrange.

The Lakers then made the free throw they needed, and Prince made a layup to end the game.