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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers battled it out at Footprint Center. LeBron James sustained a non-contact injury with 4:22 minutes left in the first quarter. He was seen hobbling onto the bench with a pained look on his face. The Suns, though, have good news. Bradley Beal made his home debut in tonight’s matchup.

LA’s lineup is also an interesting one tonight. Cam Reddish was moved to the starter while Austin Reaves moved to the second unit. The Lakers team surely got a major scare when they saw James limping off.

LeBron James’ leg injury terrified the Lakers

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James’s treatment on the bench did not look good. He couldn’t play in Phoenix for all of last season due to, yes, injury. And now he was back on the bench again with another leg injury. However, it turned into a short-lived scare as LeBron made a powerful comeback to the court later.

On a different note, Reaves’ move to the bench has certainly got everyone wondering what Coach Ham is up to. Austin’s performance on the offense this season hasn’t been much noteworthy. Reddish, on the other hand, has been struggling on the offensive end.

So this switch is more or less likely to balance out the two ends. Post-game saw Darvin Ham say that Reaves’ coming off the bench was not a “demotion”, but rather a “realignment”. And tonight’s game did see Reaves in great form.

The Lakers cut the Suns’ winning streak

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The start to tonight’s game saw the Suns off to a pretty neat start. With Bradley Beal making his debut with Durant, they hope to continue their winning streak from the last two games. The Lakers are leading with 118-113 over the Suns with 01:10 left on the clock in the fourth quarter.

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With Devin Booker yet to make an appearance in the highly anticipated Suns Big 3, the team is left to rely on the Big 2 and Nurkic. Durant leads the scoreboard with 38 points. Seeing as how the Lakers are seemingly out of sorts with their unity, the Suns hoped to use that against them. Unfortunately for them, LeBron returned with renewed energy. James played for a total of 36 minutes, leading the scoreboard with 32 points.

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Though Beal joined Durant, Frank Vogel is being careful with him. Not completely out of the woods yet, they are planning on limiting his rotations and total minutes played. Yet Bradley Beal was right behind KD with 24 points, two assists, and four rebounds. In the end, after a well-played game, the Lakers broke the Suns’ winning streak by 122-119.