The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DEANDRE Ayton continues to post historic shooting numbers in the NBA playoffs thus far, but his Phoenix Suns faltered down the stretch in game two as the defending champions evened their round one series.

Ayton finished with 22 points on 11-13 shooting from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Suns’ 109 - 102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night at the PHX Arena In Phoenix, Arizona.

Ayton has recorded double-doubles in his first two playoff appearances and has been extremely efficient as well, connecting on 21 of his 24 field-goal attempts over those two appearances.

“One thing about us, losses do not change what we do. We stick to our culture and we still have each other’s backs until the end. We just have to get back together, do what we have to do, and play our type of basketball,” Ayton told reporters following game two, “This locker room is always uplifted, you can’t really tell when we lost a game, even a big game like this.”

In the first half, Ayton had 14 points and shot a perfect 7-7- from the field, but had just two rebounds as the Lakers led 53 - 47 at the half. The Lakers opened the third on a 10 - 1 run to take a 63-48 lead before Ayton helped spark a Suns rally with his rebounding effort.

“I just put my head down and said ‘if they call a foul they call a foul.’ Still attacking the basket, attacking the boards, that’s what I’m good at, that’s my game, just put my head down and compete on the glass, try not to get complacent and try to keep my energy throughout the whole game,” he said, “A big part of rebounds is just crashing the glass and maintaining physicality.”

Phoenix trailed just 79-72 headed into the fourth quarter and took an 88-86 lead on an Ayton dunk, their first lead since the early first quarter. Without their floor general and All-Star point guard Chris Paul on the floor, the Suns were unable to close out the win. The 11-time All-Star finished with just six points and five assists in 23 minutes following his shoulder injury sustained in game one. Backup point guard Cam Payne finished with 19 points and seven assists.

“It was a longer game, just a tough game, us trying to match the physicality and not having ‘C’ as much out there on the floor,” Ayton said, “Shout out for Cam Payne for doing what he did to hold it down for us. We kept trying and we kept pushing and the crowd helped us get back into it later down the stretch.”

There was a sellout crowd announced at Phoenix Suns Arena, which was capped at 11,919 because of COVID- 19 restrictions. That’s about two-thirds of the 18,000- plus capacity.

“I took him out,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said of Paul’s injury-plagued outing, “That was all me looking at him holding his arm the way he was holding it, I just couldn’t watch him run like that. He was trying to make plays, he battled, he is a warrior. We all know that.”

The series will shift to Los Angeles for game three tonight at 10:00 pm, broadcast on TNT and game four Sunday, May 30, 3:30 PM on ABC. Game five is back in Phoenix on Tuesday June 1, followed by game six (if necessary) in Los Angeles Thursday June 3, and a series finale game seven (if necessary) back in Phoenix on Sunday, June 6.