Last night, all eyes on the Lakers and the sons and two of the league's top scorers.

LeBron James.

Devin Booker picking up second quarter.

Oh, here's LeBron flying down the lane off the little nice dish from Alex Caruso.

He's got his bucket on one end and the Lakers are within one.

But on the other, here comes Devin Booker.

At 15 at the half, LeBron had 15 at the half, Phoenix at a seven point lead.

Good game.

Third quarter Lakers still down by seven.

Watch this sequence here.

LeBron fouled after the play.

Watch what Booker does Sort of tosses the ball hard at the referee.

He would be assessed a double check and get ejected from the game.

His night done.

He finished with 17 points.

Sons of a three point lead After three.

Could they win without him?

To the fourth?

We go sons up.

Four.

Dario Saric.

No good.

Oh, we got a nice save, though, and Jae Crowder, the bucket off the glass.

Sons up.

Seven.

Here comes LeBron on the other end, three of his 38 keeping the Lakers in it, but it was more than enough for Phoenix.

Even without Booker, a minute left off a miss.

Here comes Bridges for the slam.

He had 19 Suns win, even playing the fourth quarter without Devin Booker and are now in second place in the Western Conference.

And so, as we head to the All Star break, there he is.

Jalen Rose gets up early with us.

Here in jail in the Lakers, have one more game before the break.

That's tonight in Sacramento.

LeBron is not making the trip.

It will be the first game he doesn't play this year.

They have a bunch of injury concerns.

You keep saying you're not concerned about the Lakers and I keep asking you, Does that change this morning?

It does not change Good morning greeny this morning, because when they're healthy, I don't believe there's a team in the NBA that would take them to six games in the playoffs series.

LeBron James is missing his first game this year.

That's outstanding, considering this is his 18th season and he's 36 years of age.

Anthony Davis has been injured.

When shrewder came back recently, we saw LeBron could go to a different level.

But this is all about the Phoenix Suns.

And how about reinvention?

When Chris Paul went to the Clippers, they had championship or bust expectations.

They didn't meet those expectations.

Therefore, people assassinated his character.

When he went to Houston, they had championship expectations.

They didn't get it done.

People assassinated his character.

He actually reinvented himself when he went to okay, See, because people appreciated watching a Hall of Fame player that's a veteran nurture other young players.

And because of that, the Phoenix Suns went to the bubble and played terrific.

They were eight and no and led by Devin Booker, which tells them, now we can acquire Chris Paul.

Now we can acquire Crowder and try to take this next leak, and that's exactly what they did.

And I love their young core group of players that they drafted Devin Booker, Bridges, eight, and Johnson.

They've been terrific this year.

Monty Williams and his staff player development, the Phoenix Suns, are the story right now.

Yeah, look, I mean, all year long we're talking about the Lakers and to some degree, the Clippers and the top two teams in the West, and it's not even close R Utah and Phoenix, and so we will see if that stays that way.

But I want to ask you about something else that's happening tonight.

The Nets go to Houston.

That means James Harden's return.

And he did a really good interview with Malika Andrews, in which he said he hopes the fans will show him love.

What do you expect tonight as James Harden returns to Houston?

Malika is really good at their job, and they're gonna show him love.

But here's the thing.

He's a Hall of Fame player.

Tilman Fertitta acknowledged that they're going to retire his jersey as they should, but there will be people that have a sour taste in their mouth about how it ended.

That's just how it works.

They're not going to ignore what happened this season.

James Harden is a fantastic player, and people do take it personal when you say you don't want to play for their team.

And how about being someone from Houston, you lose James Harden.

Uh, Shawn Watson is unhappy, and so I'm pretty sure while they're gonna celebrate all of the things that he did in Houston, there will be some gears for James harden when he returns, but he is one of the all time great players in the history of the franchise.

To your point about the city of Houston, the Astros also lose George Springer, who is an incredibly important part of their team.

It's been a rough time in that sports city.

But what do you think you think that when they say his name tonight and you know the number 13?

James Harden, What will the reaction be in the arena?

Well, initially, there gonna be some bulls.

There gonna be some gears, but it doesn't take away from his all time greatness.

He was an M V.

P.

There he was in the top two or three for multiple years.

He also was a three times three.

He won the scoring title three years in a row, and James Harden is a fantastic offensive weapons like, what are the most unique offensive weapons that this league has seen?

So they're gonna celebrate him, give him his flowers.

But there will be people that are upset about how it ended, of course, and very quickly.

Jalen, what have I told you that I think right now he's playing better than he ever played there.

You watch James Harden right now.

The game he's playing, the way he's playing the game right now is the best he's capable of playing Yes or no.

I hate to tell you this.

You're right because it's more attractive.

Like in James.

When James Harden was in Houston, his numbers were on steroids.

He was getting these numbers, but it was like 35 40 15 and 15.

Now he's more under control.

He's he's in cruise control.

With any time you have a triple double the way he did without having a turnover, you know that he's in his Duffy.

I don't know what that means, but it is the first time in history he's bad.

He's in his bag.

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