After losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder last night in the Quarterfinals of the NBA Cup, the Phoenix Suns will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, December 14th 6:00pm Phoenix Time.
The Lakers lost to the San Antonio Spurs last night in the other NBA Cup Western Conference Quarterfinal contest. San Antonio will play the Thunder in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 13th, in the Semifinals.
To start the season, every team starts the season with 80 regular-season games scheduled, and two games are added
depending on their NBA Cup group play performance. In the first year of the tournament, the Suns played the Sacramento Kings (who lost in the Quarterfinals to the Pelicans) after losing to the Lakers in the Quarterfinals for their 81st and 82nd games of the season. Last year, after not qualifying for the knockout rounds by a few points despite posting a 3-1 record in group play, the Suns faced off against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz, who also did not qualify for them.
Just like the first season of play, Phoenix will play the loser of the other quarterfinal matchup. The game will be the two teams’ second game in as many weeks, Phoenix’s first game hosting the Lakers of the season, something they’ll do two more times this year, including another time this month. The squads will play a total of five times throughout the regular season, a result that can only occur based on the NBA Cup results.
In the first matchup of the season between the divisional foes, the Suns got the best of the Lakers, beating them 125-108 despite Devin Booker going down in the first quarter with a groin injury. After being out for a week, Booker looks to return to the lineup for the contest.
The Lakers are 17-7 on the year and currently are tied with the Spurs for the fourth seed in the West, while the Suns are 14-11 and are the 7th seed. The game is the next one on both team’s schedules.
