Phoenix Suns @ Los Angeles Lakers
Friday, April 10, 2026 at 10:30 PM ET
Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA | Game ID: 22501185
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
LAL 33 24 24 20 101PHX 24 24 16 9 73
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
LeBron James scores 28, leads Lakers past Suns 101-73 to clinch home-court advantage in 1st round
LOS ANGELES -- — LeBron James had 28 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with their 101-73 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Luke Kennard scored 19 points and Rui Hachimura added 13 for the Lakers, who will be either the third or fourth seed in the Western Conference despite finishing the regular season without injured stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves .
Los Angeles (52-29) is one game behind third-place Denver (53-28) with one game left, but LA holds the tiebreaker over the Nuggets.
The Lakers won their second straight and their 15th in 19 games with a vintage performance from the 41-year-old James, who showed no weariness on the second night of a back-to-back set in which he scored 54 points on 63.6% shooting (21 for 33).
James also recorded the 12,000th assist of his career in the first half, becoming only the fourth NBA player to reach the milestone.
The NBA scoring king racked up 14 points in the first quarter, and he added six points and seven assists in the second half while making sure the Lakers' lead stayed firm.
Dillon Brooks scored 12 points for the Suns, who are seventh in the West standings and locked into the top spot in the play-in tournament.
Devin Booker sat out for Phoenix to rest his injured right ankle for the postseason, and Jalen Green also sat with right knee soreness. Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen played in the first half, but sat in the second half of the Suns' lowest-scoring performance of the season.
The Lakers' injury woes remain dire, but Marcus Smart had six points and seven assists against Phoenix in his return from a nine-game injury absence.
James scored or assisted on nine of the Lakers' first 10 field goals while they streaked to an early 16-point lead.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
LALAT A. Thiero
BJ B. James
CM C. Mañon
DA D. Ayton
DK D. Knecht
DT D. Timme
JL J. LaRavia
JV J. Vanderbilt
LJ L. James
LK L. Kennard
MK M. Kleber
MS M. Smart
NS N. Smith Jr.
RH R. Hachimura
PHXAC A. Coffey
CG C. Gillespie
CH C. Huntley
DB D. Brooks
GA G. Allen
JB J. Bouyea
KB K. Brea
KM K. Maluach
MW M. Williams
OI O. Ighodaro
RD R. Dunn
RF R. Fleming
RO R. O'Neale
LAL/PHX the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur