Royce O'Neale had career day in first start for Phoenix Suns in win over LA Lakers

Defeating the Los Angeles Lakers redeemed the Phoenix Suns from their two-game skid following the All-Star break.

The same could be said for Royce O'Neale's numbers against L.A., following Phoenix's loss to Houston on Friday.

In his first start for Phoenix since he was acquired from Brooklyn at the Feb. 8 trade deadline, O'Neale had a career-high 20 points, 10 rebounds, added four assists, two steals, one block, and a game-high of plus-22. A player's plus/minus number measures their impact on the game by calculating the change in the score while the player is in the game.

He matched Grayson Allen (team-high 24 points) with six 3s, another career-high for O'Neale, as they combined for 12 of Phoenix's 17 treys made. That included O'Neale's dagger 3 to extend the lead 121-108 lead with 1:24 left to play, substantially putting the game out of reach for L.A.

"That's what we're going to need, especially if teams are going to tailor their defense to leaving those guys open," said Devin Booker (21 points, team-high nine assists), about Allen and O'Neale after the game. "Making them pay like that, that hurts."

The Friday performance from O'Neale at Houston was the worst of his six appearances for the Suns thus far. He had a season-low one point, 0-of-5 shooting including 0-of-4 from the 3, four rebounds, one assist and a steal in 17 minutes.

That was the ebb before he returned to his flow on Sunday. O'Neale doesn't believe there's a contrast in his last two performances because there's more to basketball than what raw shooting statistics suggest.

“I don’t think it was a slump game, bounce-back. In basketball, you miss shots," O'Neale told The Arizona Republic after the game. "You can say it was a slump game, bounce-back, but I take every game as it is. Make shots, miss shots, I’m still gonna play the same every game.”

Phoenix was short-handed from the injured Bradley Beal (hamstring) missing his fourth straight game and Eric Gordon (groin). That enabled O'Neale to start for Gordon, their usual sixth man off the bench and O'Neale instantly became the Suns' seventh man in their rotation.

O'Neale has played formidable but not necessarily exceptional since he arrived in the Valley six games ago. The seven-year veteran forward is averaging 9.1 points, shooting 36.5% on 3s, 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 steals in 24.5 minutes, and leads the team with a 7.7 plus-minus.

His shooting splits earlier this season in Brooklyn were .388/.366/.682, and in the previous five games for the Suns they were .333/.320/.400. Considering the small sample size, Sunday's game gave those numbers a bump.

"Since Royce (O’Neale) has gotten here, hasn’t shot the ball particularly well but today he did, so it’s always difficult when you play against two guys that just attract so much from you defensively," said LeBron James (game-highs 28 points, 12 assists) about O'Neale.

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James' latter comment refers to the pressure that Booker and Kevin Durant (22 points, seven assists, two blocks) put on the Lakers defense, which opened up the 3-bombs from O'Neale and Allen.

"They played really well tonight. Stopping them is something that’s gonna be hard when you have those players there," Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell said about Allen and O'Neale while accounting for Booker and Durant.

"You gotta kind of live with pick your poison. I think that’s what it was. We picked our poison. We did a solid job on those two big guys. You see Grayson and Royce, 12 shots (made from the perimeter) of 17 they shot. I think they’re taking shots away from their other guys, so I think that was solid, but they made them so I guess they made us pay. That’s not the scouting report to stop those two guys, respectfully.”

The Suns didn't get O'Neale just for his shooting touch along the wing, but also for his rebounds and defensive prowess in getting stops. Nine of 10 rebounds were on defense, mostly in the second half when the Lakers pushed for a comeback, and his physicality near the post with his 6-foot-6 frame at nearly 230 pounds.

“He is a super easy guy to play with. He is one of those guys you can plug right in, and he helps the team," Allen said about O'Neale. "He has been great defensively for us. We have asked him to guard a bunch of different matchups one through five; he has been good.

"He helps out on the boards, even if it is not him getting the rebound, he is really physical with blocking guys out. He is not afraid to take shots and make them. That was big tonight. Big when he hit the one at the end of the game there to seal the game and put them away.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Royce O'Neale had career day in first start for Suns win over Lakers