The Los Angeles Lakers took on the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night in their penultimate game of the preseason. With the preseason finale coming Friday in the second of a back-to-back, the thinking was this would be a dress rehearsal with near-normal rotations for the Lakers.

However, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura were ruled out on game day, so JJ Redick already didn’t have two of his starters in the game with others on minutes restrictions. The Lakers still played solid overall and came back to earn a 128-122 victory in overtime.

Anthony Davis was in the lineup for the Lakers and started the game with eight straight points, including a pair of rare triples, giving his team an 8–3 lead.

Davis didn’t stop there as he made two more three-pointers, but Devin Booker had a nice response with one of his own to cut the Lakers’ lead to 20-18.

Meanwhile, Austin Reaves went to work on offense to end the first quarter, putting the Lakers ahead 35-30.

Reaves continued his hot streak in the second, joining Davis as the top scorer in the first half for the Lakers. However, the defense slowed down to close out the second quarter as Booker stayed hot to give the Suns a 67-62 halftime lead.

The Lakers clearly outplayed the missing James and Hachimura, while Booker and Kevin Durant did their thing offensively, but LA hung there for much of the third quarter.

Davis looked like he was ready for the regular season, with D’Angelo Russell finding him for a few easy buckets to give the big man 26 points through three quarters. With not much defense being played, the Lakers trailed 90-82 at the end of the third.

Davis essentially stayed in for the first half of the fourth quarter and continued his dominance, finishing with 35 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block in 34 minutes.

However, despite the efforts of Davis and some nice outside shots from rookie Dalton Knecht, the Lakers fell behind late.

They were trailing by three in the final seconds, and Knecht drilled another with 4.8 to play to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, it was all Knecht as he continued to knock in 3s, both open and contested, to lead the Lakers to an impressive comeback victory.

Knecht matched Davis with 35 points, including 20 in a row for the Lakers at one point, on 10-for-18 shooting and 8-for-13 from deep.

What’s next for the Lakers

The Lakers close out the preseason Friday night against the Golden State Warriors on the road, with the regulars likely to sit out the second of a back-to-back. They open the regular season at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

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