LeBron James, near the end of a brutally tough shooting night, intentionally missed a free throw in an attempt to create an offensive rebound and salvage his off night.

But the Suns contained the loose ball, the last big moment in a 109-105 win that handed the Lakers their first loss of the season.

Faced with a choice during a timeout in the final minute with his team down three, Lakers coach JJ Redick made a decision.

He was going to go for it.

Read more: Inside the mentality that led JJ Redick to coaching – and his first win

Despite there being time on the clock for the Lakers to have multiple possessions, Redick designed a play to give Austin Reaves an open three. And while the play itself created the look the Lakers wanted, the shot didn’t fall.

The team got another stop and another chance, but Phoenix made a mistake instead of giving the Lakers a chance to tie the game. James made the first free throw, but instead of making the second and fouling the Suns, he tried to force the offensive rebound.

He finished with just 11 points and made just three of his 14 shots.

Anthony Davis had 29 and Reaves scored 23 in the loss to the Suns. Devin Booker had 33 for Phoenix and Kevin Durant had 30.

Validation can come in other ways, like Monday morning for the Lakers and Davis when he was named the Western Conference player of the week for his dominance in the first week.

While the award itself is about as temporary as any official praise the NBA offers, like so much of what happened early on, it only adds credibility to Redick’s vision of what the Lakers should be doing every night.

The Lakers named Davis the “center” of the team’s offense shortly after he got the job and have fully committed to making their big man their first offensive option. And he rewarded them.

“We talk about choices a lot as a team and so for me that was a choice that was made on Day 1 and then that choice was just made,” Redick said Monday before the game. ‘You don’t have to do anything else. Now you move on to the next priority. Obviously, I think even in the preseason and through the first three regular season games, that choice has been clear and our guys further down the line have embraced that choice.

Read more: LeBron James continues to impress Lakers coach JJ Redick with his ‘insane’ performance

The Lakers revisited that choice Monday night, with Davis somehow looking even more dominant than he did in a stretch of three straight games with 30-plus points.

In the first nine minutes of Monday’s game, Davis scored 16 points against the Suns while delivering the defensive highlights that have helped define his career, such as blocking Durant when the two met at the rim.

But when Davis left the game, the Suns quickly erased a lead that could have been as much as 18.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.