Luka Dončić (33 Points), Reaves (28 Points) fuel Lakers CRITICAL WIN Over Suns

Riding a four-game losing streak and still unsure when LeBron James and Rui Hachimura will return to the lineup, the Lakers badly needed a win Sunday against the visiting Phoenix Suns, who compensate for a tremendous level of star power with a total lack of cohesion and spirit. In moments like these, the best players need to perform, and that's what the Lakers got. Luke Dončić got the Lakers off to a great start, and while his shot cooled off as the game went on, Luka still had long stretches where he was controlling the action on the floor. Final line: 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists. Right there with him was Austin Reaves, who played downhill all day and hit a bunch of timely shots en route to 28 points, four rebounds and six assists. That's 61 points, eight triples and 14 assists from the team's best players. Good production for sure. There were other contributors—Jaxson Hayes returned to the lineup and made a big impact, scoring 19 points on 8-10 shooting. Jordan Goodwin, in the starting lineup again, made Devin Booker work all game, harassing him to an extremely inefficient 19 points. As a team, the Lakers did a nice job keeping the pressure on a Suns team that hasn't exactly reached "1-2-3 Cancun!" but is probably at "1-2-3 Canc--." After pushing out to a large early lead (LA was up 31-11 with 1:21 left in the first quarter), Phoenix kept making little runs, cutting their deficit to under 10 points. But each time, the Lakers quickly squashed the momentum. The consistency of the effort was noteworthy. With a back-to-back looming later this week Milwaukee and Denver, winning Sunday (and again Monday against a slumping San Antonio team) is critical for ensuring the Lakers don't slip out of the top six in the Western Conference, even while they wait for James and Hachimura to return. The Lakers are locked in a virtual four way tie for 2nd-5th, while Golden State and Minnesota in the 6th and 7th spots are both playing very well. In short, after a stretch where it looked like at least a few teams might be falling off, things are back to being incredibly brutal out west. So while the conditions weren't ideal for a "gotta have it" game, that doesn't change the context. The most important thing for the Lakers is avoiding the play-in, but if they want to get a little greedy, hosting a first round series is a worthy goal for a squad that is now 25-7, one of only two teams in the conference that is yet to lose 10 games on its home floor. It was one game against a team that, at least from the outside looking in, appears to be on the verge of collapse. But it was a very important one, and the Lakers came through with the kind of effort that should give fans a lot of confidence. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers get a critical win behind Luka and Reaves. SEGMENT 2: Welcome back, Jaxson Hayes! SEGMENT 3: LeBron works out before Sunday's game. Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! 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