5 takeaways as Suns cook from 3 in romp over Lakers without injured Devin Booker

Phoenix certainly found the range from deep in Monday’s 130-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.

The Suns (19-12) connected on 20-of-39 of its 3s in winning their third game in a row. Damion Lee knocked down 5-of-10 in getting his first start of the season as Devin Booker sat out with groin soreness.

Chris Paul paced Phoenix with a season-high 28 points and eight assists while Deandre Ayton posted a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in his return after missing two games with a left ankle sprain.

All five Suns starters reached double figures as Mikal Bridges scored 20, Torrey Craig chipped in 17 and Lee added 15. Craig made all four of his 3-point shot attempts on his 32nd birthday.

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Phoenix had Jock Landale (concussion protocol), Cameron Payne (foot), Cam Johnson (knee) and Duane Washington Jr. (hip) out along with Booker.

Then Josh Okogie injured his hip as he only played 10 minutes.

The Lakers (13-17) were also short-handed with LeBron James (right ankle soreness), Anthony Davis (right foot soreness) Austin Reaves (right ankle sprain), Russell Westbrook (left foot soreness) and Juan Toscano-Anderson (right ankle ankle) out.

Westbrook was a late scratch.

Here are five takeaways from Monday's game as Phoenix plays Washington in the second of a back-to-back Tuesday at home.

Last time

The Suns led by as many as 27 points in a game both teams weren’t even close to their best, but this was the 12^th consecutive win for Phoenix over the Lakers counting preseason, regular season and playoffs.

The Lakers last beat Phoenix in Game 3 of the 2021 playoffs when Davis was the best player on the floor and suffered an injury (hyperextended knee) that impacted the series.

Been all Suns since.

There was another note of interest.

The Suns hadn’t had all five starters score at least 15 points in a game since Nov. 22, 2010 when they won at Houston, 123-116.

Guess the starting five from that game without Google's help.

Still guessing.

OK. OK. Here it is.

• PG: Steve Nash – 26 points.

• SG: Jason Richardson – 24 points.

• SF: Grant Hill – 17 points.

• PF: Hedo Turkoglu – 15 points.

• C: Channing Frye – 15.

Nice.

‘D-Lee just a pro’

Paul had no worries about Lee getting the start for Booker.

“D-Lee is just a pro,” Paul said. “He’s a pro. When Coach said he was starting at shootaround, I was like, cool. Looked at D-Lee before the player intros and I said, ‘If they press, you’re just going to have to bring the ball up some.’ He was like, cool. It feels like we’ve been teammates for like 10 years. He’s just one of them gap guys that just knows the game.”

Playing a game-high 38 minutes, Lee grabbed six rebounds and added two assists to two turnovers.

Made those five 3s, too, to help space the floor for Paul to get to his midrange.

“Just going out there and playing my game, being aggressive,” Lee said.

Lee has been the most production Suns' addition. He came to the team highly respected for being part of Golden State’s championship team last season, but Lee has earned it with his play and attitude.

“All he know is winning basketball,” Ayton said. “With what we are trying to do, he fits right in. Especially playing in point-five action to where the ball is just moving. I told Coach, watch him when I was subbing in. I had to whisper D-Lee is what we need for this offense. He fits in perfectly.”

Midrange game for Paul

Paul has probably heard enough from his teammates and coaching staff about staying aggressive.

With Booker out, he had to be in that mode, but Paul has been getting to his midrange more.

Part of that is having the ball more. Booker has become the primary ball handler.

Part of that is having his legs after missing 14 games with the sore right heel.

Part of that Monday was running off screens by Ayton and Bismack Biyombo, two guys who know how to help free him up, especially when teams force him left.

The fader was in full bloom Monday, but what will happen when Booker returns?

There’s probably a balance Suns coach Monty Williams can find for Paul to run pick-and-roll and for Booker to have the ball, but the big picture is for Paul to be fresh come postseason.

That likely means more off the ball and being ready to catch-and-shoot. He went 3-of-5 from 3 Monday after going 5-of-7 Saturday against the Pelicans.

'Ankle is good'

Ayton didn’t want to miss more than a week’s worth of action.

He was eager to return after spraining his left ankle for a second time this season.

“Ankle is good,” Ayton said. “I tried my best to stay on top of it. When I hurt it, the training staff was on top of me. Just coming in early.”

Then Ayton got it going early with a nine-point first quarter on 4-of-5 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds in the first as Phoenix led by 14 after one.

“The ball movement and our defense,” said Ayton when asked what got him going early. “I felt that we had some energy going into the game. Shootaround was pretty good and intense to where it carried over into the game. From the jump we had the rhythm and flow especially in transition that got us playing Suns basketball.”

When he came back from the first ankle sprain, Ayton scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a loss to Portland, but he went for just seven and six in the second of back-to-back against the Blazers.

Curious to see how he performs in the Tuesday’s game against Washington in the second of back-to-back.

'Can't even imagine'

Williams took a moment after his postgame to recognize Lindsay Herf of Arizona Justice Project and three men – Khalil Rushdan, Louis Harper and Brandon Jordan – wrongly incarcerated.

Established in 1998, Arizona Justice Project is an organization that helps inmates “overturn wrongful convictions” as stated on its website.

Herf, Rushdan, Harper and Jordan all attended Monday’s game.

“It’s an amazing thing to see you guys and I can’t even imagine what that was like,” Williams said.

Then Herf asked if the men could say their names.

“Please, stand up and say your names for me would you,” Williams said.

Williams asked each person to say how long were they wrongly incarcerated.

Harper: 23 years 7 months.

Jordan: Nine years.

Rushdan: Nearly 16 years.

“For you guys to be here in your right minds, great spirit, man, it’s amazing,” Williams said after the three men finished stating the years they spent locked up.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 5 takeaways after Suns cook Lakers from 3 in win minus Devin Booker