PHOENIX — For the Lakers, free-throw disparity is typically an advantage.
That wasn’t the case in Sunday afternoon’s 123-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.
The Lakers (31-28) took a season-low eight free throw attempts, making just four of those looks, which was another season-low.
“We tried to play downhill as much as possible,” coach Darvin Ham said. “But only eight free throw attempts, I guess it wasn’t good enough. We weren’t playing as physical as we normally do, which in my mind, I thought we were.”
LeBron James, who went 1 for 4 at the charity stripe, accounted for half of the Lakers’ free throw attempts.
Anthony Davis, who entered the weekend leading the Lakers with free throw attempts with 6.9, didn’t attempt a free throw for the first time since March 10, 2023.
“We live on getting to the line,” Davis said. “We attack the basket. We try to live in the paint. Especially how much we struggle from the 3, we’re kind of up and down, so we try to live in the paint and get to the line.
“I’m not sure if it was just the refs missing it or they weren’t fouling. I felt I got fouled a couple of times. But that’s part of our identity, our DNA, is getting to the line and guys catching rhythms like that and then playing from there.”
Sunday was the 15th time the Lakers’ opponent finished with more free throws than them, with the Lakers now 6-9 in those games, and just the fifth time their opponent has 10 or more free throws than them.
The Lakers entered Sunday sixth in the NBA in free throws attempted per game (24.3) and tied for first in fewest free throws allowed (18.9).
“That’s who we are,” James said. “But a lot of people, a lot of coaches, a lot of teams are like, ‘That’s all the Lakers do is get to the free throw line.’ It’s like this narrative out there that that’s all we do is get to the free-throw line.
“I mean, we have attackers. That’s what we do. We have attackers. We…
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