The Los Angeles Lakers had a sluggish three quarters against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night but found success in the fourth quarter behind their superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis en route to a 100-95 victory. But perhaps the most intriguing part of the fourth quarter comeback was the decision to have Christian Wood guard Suns star Kevin Durant for much of the final period.
Wood is only two games in with the Lakers, and to this point in his career, has not been known for having defensive prowess. However, he found success against Durant in the fourth quarter of the Lakers win on Friday. Durant had nine points in the fourth quarter, but did so on an inefficient 4-for-11 from the field. Wood was the primary defender for most of the quarter and played the entire quarter.
Davis — who also spent a few possessions on Durant — spoke highly of Wood’s performance in the fourth quarter and spoke about the team’s game plan against the Suns superstar in the final quarter.
“He took on a challenge. We do a couple of different looks myself, Bron and C-Wood and we just talked to him,” Davis said. “Try and make it tough for him. Throwing different bodies at him, obviously. He’s a great scorer in so many ways where it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him. He’s going to get to his shot. We just want to make it tough and make a contest. C-Wood did a great job, being physical with him. Making him take tough shots. … So you know, he came to us and said he wanted to take the heat at the end then we just start going into different schemes that we run.”
Wood was a game-high plus-23 in his 21 minutes of action against the Suns, and that’s in large part due to his work on the defensive end, something that hasn’t always been true of him. But if Thursday was any indication, perhaps Wood has committed to playing a new brand of basketball in a different situation.
If he can become a defensive presence, it drastically changes the kind of ceiling the Lakers can have on that end of the floor. Perhaps the goal of being a top 1-3 defense, as Rui Hachimura believes they can be, is not out of the question.
James not taking battles with Durant for granted
James and Durant have battled countless times over the course of the surefire Hall of Fame careers, and Thursday night was another one of those classic battles. The Lakers star is not taking those for granted, saying that he’s loved competing with and against Durant over the years.
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