The Los Angeles Lakers played the Phoenix Suns in the first game of the NBA’s first In-Season Tournament on Friday night. Their road trip ended with this game.

They got their first win of the year against the Suns, 122-119. Anthony Davis came back from a one-game absence to help them win. The Lakers are still in the fight to win Group A after their win. They have three more games to go.

To make the Lakers bigger, Darvin Ham switched the starting lineup by putting Cam Reddish in place of Austin Reaves. In the beginning, it looked good because Reddish stole the ball and made a corner 3-pointer. After getting off to a slow start, it made sense for the Lakers to change their lineup. But they got ahead 13–7 early in this game.

Before he got hurt in the back, Bradley Beal got off to a great start for Phoenix in his second game back. His team stayed in the game because of him. Then Kevin Durant made a three-point play, which ended the Lakers’ early lead.

After that, the Lakers got tired and had trouble scoring, while the Suns got going and for the first time built a ten-point lead.

Los Angeles was down 34–25 at the start of the second quarter because LeBron James looked like he hurt his leg for a moment. After he came back, he and Austin Reaves made some great plays that tied the game again.

But the Suns were hard for the Lakers to stop from getting to the offensive glass, just like they have all season. The Suns kept their lead at 10 points or more because of this.

As the first half went on, only Taurean Prince and D’Angelo Russell made a shot for the Lakers. James began to attack at the end of the second quarter. Because of this, L.A. was behind 63–55 at halfway after Beal made a shot at the buzzer.

Davis made a quick basket to start the third quarter after a quiet first half. Then James made two free throws to close the gap to four points, but Jusuf Nurkic scored five straight points right back.

LeBron then made two straight three-pointers to get hot and do everything he could to keep the Lakers in the game. Russell kept up his good play as well, making it easy for friends like Davis to score.

The Lakers seemed to be making progress, but Durant made back-to-back threes and a three-point play to put Phoenix ahead by ten points again. They were down 96–79 going into the fourth quarter, but Reddish made a three-pointer that went off before the buzzer.

As the fourth quarter began, Rui Hachimura and Reddish both made three-point shots. Then James set up Reaves for a fastbreak layup. This was the first time the Lakers had led since the beginning of the quarter.

Reddish made another three-pointer to keep the run going after the Suns took a break. After that, Eric Gordon made a layup to end the run. There were now five points between the teams. Christian Wood made another three-pointer. Because of this, Frank Vogel called another break.

Durant helped the Suns get back on track by hitting some big shots. He also kept the game close so that the end would be fun.

With one minute left, Reddish made another big corner three that put his team ahead 118–113. They had a tough time stopping Durant from distance.

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