Frank Vogel: Lakers 'Didn't Play Well Enough on Either Side of the Ball' vs. Suns

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel gave an honest assessment of his team following their blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Tuesday night.

According to Mark Medina of USA Today, Vogel said: "We didn't play well enough on either side of the ball."

With Anthony Davis out with a groin injury, the Lakers fell 115-85, putting them down 3-2 in the series and one loss away from elimination.

To Vogel's point, the Suns dominated the Lakers in most aspects of Tuesday's contest and sent them into Game 6 on the lowest note possible.

LeBron James was tasked with carrying the Lakers in the absence of Davis, and while he put up solid numbers with 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds, he received virtually no help.

The Lakers' other four starters combined for a mere 11 points, including both Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going scoreless. Schroder was especially bad, going 0-of-9 from the field.

For the sake of comparison, Suns guard Devin Booker scored 30 points on his own, while Phoenix's other four starters combined for a respectable 39 points.

The Lakers were slightly more efficient than the Suns from three (34.3 percent to 33.3 percent) and tied them in free-throw shooting at 71.4 percent, but Phoenix came out ahead in almost every other area.

Phoenix was far more efficient from the field, shooting 45.7 percent compared to L.A.'s 34.5 percent. The Suns also had 29 assists to the Lakers' 14 and turned the ball over just four times whereas the Lakers turned it over on 16 occasions.

Despite being the No. 7 seed, the Lakers entered the first round of the playoffs to not only knock off the Suns, but represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season.

The Suns showed why they are the No. 2 seed during Game 5, however, and they are now one win away from knocking out the defending champs.

As was apparent throughout the regular season, the Lakers showed again Tuesday how reliant on their two superstar players they are and struggle to put together a complete performance when one of them is out.

It isn't yet clear if AD will be available for Thursday's Game 6, but if he isn't, it will be up to LeBron to elevate his own play as well as the play of his teammates far better than he did in the Game 5 loss.