Kyle Kuzma’s late 3-pointers help Lakers push past Suns. 123-115

Kyle Kuzma was out on the floor in the crucial final minutes on Tuesday night when his teammates made the extra pass and found him at the 3-point line. Both times, he never hesitated to take the shots that splashed through the net and pushed the Lakers to a 123-115 over the Phoenix Suns.

Nobody looked happier than Anthony Davis and LeBron James. They’ll take all the help they can get.

“Welcome back,” Davis said they told Kuzma.

Davis had 24 points and 12 rebounds and Kuzma added a season-high 23 points on 9 of 16 shooting to push the Lakers (8-2) to their best 10-game start since 2010 and bounce back from a home loss to Toronto on Sunday.

James added 19 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds.

Phoenix (6-4) trailed for a big chunk of the fourth quarter but pushed ahead 113-111 on Devin Booker‘s fastbreak layup with 3:29 left. The Lakers responded with three straight 3-pointers – one from James and two more from Kuzma – to lead 120-113 and put the game out of reach.

Kuzma missed the first four games of the season this year because of an ankle injury he suffered during the summer while playing for USA basketball. He averaged 18.7 points last season but was scoring just over 10 per game until Tuesday’s outburst.

“I’ve just got teammates who believe in me,” Kuzma said. “We all believe in each other. We’re a team and we pick each other up.”