Bryant, Radmanovic lead Lakers past Suns 105-92

PHOENIX(AP) Kobe Bryant had a below-average game. He's got so much help on this Los Angeles Lakers team it didn't matter.

Bryant scored 24 points, Vladimir Radmanovic made all five of his 3-pointers and a host of others made significant contributions to help the Lakers past the Phoenix Suns, 105-92 on Thursday night.

Bryant shot only 8-of-23, but the Lakers overwhelmed Phoenix with their depth. Six players reached double figures as Los Angeles improved its record to a league-best 9-1.

"I was telling Luke (Walton) about 10 minutes ago that this might be the first season I average 31 minutes because we've been blowing people out,'' Bryant said. "I've been sitting the whole fourth quarter. That's pretty amazing.''

Bryant did make a fourth-quarter cameo, but mostly it was left to the reserves to finish off Phoenix.

Radmanovic scored 15, Lamar Odom 13, Jordan Farmar 11, and Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza 10 apiece for Los Angeles. Pau Gasol scored only four points but had nine assists and nine rebounds.

"They're the best team,'' the Suns' Shaquille O'Neal said. "They're 9-1. They're playing good. Kobe's playing team ball, keeping everybody involved. He's got a lot of shooters around him. They're a very dangerous team.''

Amare Stoudemire scored 21 for Phoenix on 9-for-21 shooting. The Lakers' reserves outscored their Suns counterparts 42-30.

"It's the kind of game we need from our bench,'' Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "We were able to play them most of the fourth quarter.''

The Lakers had 21 points off 15 Phoenix turnovers. Los Angeles committed just seven turnovers, resulting in seven points for the Suns.

Radmanovic had only five points and was 0-for-2 on 3s in the Lakers' victory over Chicago on Tuesday night.

"We'd been kidding him that he'd not made a shot the last week,'' Jackson said.

O'Neal added 15 points and nine rebounds against a team he helped win three NBA titles. The Suns' Steve Nash was scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points and 10 assists, leaving the court with back spasms with 4:38 to play.

"I thought Raja (Bell) did a great job on Kobe,'' Phoenix coach Terry Porter said. "He goes 8-for-23 and he has other guys step up. That's what's made these guys good this year.''

The Lakers made 10 of 21 3-pointers to win in Phoenix for the third straight time.

Los Angeles took the lead for good late in the first half. The Lakers led by 14 in the third quarter and were up 89-71 when Odom sank a 3-pointer with 8:34 to play. Phoenix cut the lead to 10 in the final few minutes but got no closer.

The Lakers went on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter and start the second, taking a 32-24 lead on Bynum's 10-footer. The Suns responded with a 12-2 spurt to go up 37-34 when Grant Hill made one of two free throws with 7:05 left in the half.

Los Angeles, though, outscored Phoenix 17-7 the rest of the quarter to lead 51-44 at the break. The Lakers padded the lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Bryant's fast-break basket made it 63-51 with 7:47 left in the third quarter.

The Suns twice cut it to eight before back-to-back 3-pointers by Radmanovic and Derek Fisher gave Los Angeles a 76-62 with 2:21 left in the third. The Lakers led 80-67 entering the fourth.

Notes: Radmanovic was 11-for-30 on 3s going into the game. Foul trouble limited Bynum to 20 1/2 minutes. ... Suns coach Terry Porter went with Sean Singletary ahead of Goran Dragic at backup point guard. Both players are rookies. ... O'Neal gave Jackson a big, sweaty hug in the hallway before the game.

This past weekend, I went on the “Orange You Glad You Listened” podcast on Suns.com to talk about Thursday evening’s matchup in Phoenix between the Suns and Lakers. While a few of my questions were answered about an 8-4 Suns team that’s quite intriguing as the season moves forward, I wasn’t quite satisfied, so I called up one of the podcast’s hosts – Suns web and multimedia manager Steven Koek – to take a deeper look at the Suns. After an extended conversation about his squad, Koek summarized the team with answers to four questions:

1. Coming off a tough playoff series against San Antonio last year and inheriting a new coach in Terry Porter, what's the bottom line on Steve Nash?
   Steve is still adjusting to his role in Porter’s system. It usually takes him a couple of weeks to get going anyway, and this season that holds true even more so. The one thing I can say is that Steve is still in great shape, and even though he may be slowing down a bit, he is doing what he needs to do to keep pace in the league. I think as he gets into midseason form and the entire team learns what is expected of them, we'll all see the same Steve Nash we're used to.
2. Amare Stoudemire is again posting impressive numbers, and is clearly among the league's best offensive players. Why does he benefit more than any Sun from Shaq's presence?
   Amare benefits from Shaq's presence in so many ways. The main thing on the court is that the Big Cactus is taking up space in the lane on both ends of the court, which frees Amare up to roam on defense and stay active on offense. Off the court, Shaq has always been Amare's role model and having him as a teammate, being able to listen to him and absorb the experiences Shaq has had will enable Amare to take his game to even another level.
3. It's been an interesting 8-4 start in Phoenix, full of suspensions, injuries and the like. What does Thursday's game mean as a litmus test?
   Thursday will be a test in going up against arguably the best team in the league in front of a national television audience against the Suns' division rivals. It is still one of 82, as coaches and players alike are always quick to point out, but it will give the team a chance to see how far they've come, where they stand in relation to the Lakers and what they still need to work on.
4. We watched the outstanding Robin Lopez comic book feature on Suns.com, and basically have concluded that anything he does it hilarious. Your thoughts on the twin?
   Robin Lopez is a unique kind of guy, no question about it. Suns.com's Brad G. Faye went out to the comic book store with him and Robin was a kid in a candy store. Any time you have a guy who can easily spend an hour in a comic book store is someone you're going to want to keep an eye on as his career develops.

Lakers-Suns Preview

A report surfaced last week that Shaquille O'Neal might want to end his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. They probably don't have any interest in him right now.

His latest reunion with Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson already made this matchup of the Pacific Division's top teams intriguing, but O'Neal's recent comments -- besides the fines levied against him -- have heightened the interest as the Lakers visit the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

Despite being signed with Phoenix (8-4) through next season, O'Neal told the Sacramento Bee he would be interested in going back to the Lakers after his current contract expires. He won three straight championships alongside Bryant in Los Angeles from 2000-02, though a feud between the two was blamed for why the dynasty ended and O'Neal was traded to Miami.

The report, however, also had O'Neal saying Jackson orchestrated much of the problems with Bryant and never helped get the superstars on the same page. It wasn't until two years ago when O'Neal and Bryant seemingly mended the relationship.

Los Angeles (8-1) is doing just fine along the frontline without O'Neal.

Before the Suns got O'Neal at last season's trade deadline, the Lakers acquired 7-footer Pau Gasol and he helped get them to the NBA finals. That run came without an injured Andrew Bynum, and the 21-year-old center has returned this season to help Los Angeles to the league's best record.

While Bynum has averaged 10.8 points and 8.9 rebounds as he continues to work his way back from knee surgery, Gasol is contributing 17.6 points and 10.1 boards per game. Bryant, meanwhile, is averaging 24.3 points and 19.3 field-goal attempts -- both his lowest since 2003-04 in O'Neal's final season with the Lakers.

On Tuesday, Gasol scored a season-high 34 points while Bynum had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks in a 116-109 victory over Chicago.

"Me and Andrew, it's hard to match up," Gasol said. "I think we should make a consistent effort to do that every game. You've got two guys who can produce. They're easy looks, 10-footers -- high-percentage shots."

O'Neal has had an uneven season, but lately it's featured some bad moments. He was fined $25,000 for his role in an altercation against Houston last week, then fined $35,000 for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court quickly after being ejected for a hard foul on Detroit's Rodney Stuckey on Sunday.

"Doesn't matter to me," O'Neal said. "I'm not the one that can be controlled with fines, so that doesn't matter to me."

The latest fine came down Monday, the same day he finished a game with only one rebound for the first time this decade in a 109-97 loss at Utah.

"We just have to suck this one up because we have another good team which we play on Thursday and we got to get ready for that," said O'Neal, who had nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.

The only game in which he faced the Lakers in a Phoenix uniform -- and the most recent between these teams -- came on Feb. 20, when he had 15 points and nine rebounds in a 130-124 loss. Bryant scored 41 points and Gasol added 29.

At 4-0, Los Angeles is the only team without a road loss this season. The Suns are 3-2 at home and they lost both meetings with the Lakers at US Airways Center last season.

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The Lakers won last season’s series with the Suns 3-1 and snapped a six-game road losing streak entering 2007-08, going 2-0 at US Airways Center last year. The season series victory snapped a run of three consecutive losing seasons to the Suns from 2004-07. However, the Lakers still lead the all-time series 119-86 and will meet the Suns for the 206th time November 20. The Lakers are 12-6 against the Suns all-time at STAPLES Center but just 4-6 in their last 10 regular season home games against the Suns. On the road, the Lakers have gone 4-6 in their last 10 regular season visits to Phoenix and have won two straight at US Airways Center. Under head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are 20-12 against the Suns during the regular season. In 41 career games against the Suns including 35 starts, Kobe Bryant is averaging 25.4 and in their most recent meeting February 20 at Phoenix, surpassed 1,000 career points against the Suns (1040). In their most recent meeting February 20 at US Airways Center, former Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal made his Phoenix Suns debut, posting 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 29 minutes. In Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s five career head-to-head meetings, Bryant is averaging 36.6 points (183), 5.8 rebounds (29) and 3.8 assists (19) while O’Neal is averaging 20.0 points (100), 11.8 rebounds (59) and 2.00 blocks (10). O’Neal played eight seasons with the Lakers, averaging 27.0 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.49 blocked shots, and ranks among franchise leaders in points (7th/13,895), rebounds (5th/6,090), blocked shots (2nd/1,278) and field goal percentage (2nd/.575). Suns forward Matt Barnes played locally at UCLA and will be one of three Bruins in the game (Ariza, Farmar).

BYNUM 8th YOUNGEST TO 1,000 CAREER REBOUNDS With his ninth rebound 11/18 vs. Chicago, Andrew Bynum reached 1,000 career rebounds at just 21 years and 22 days of age, becoming the 8th youngest player in NBA history to reach the 1,000 rebound mark. Below is a list compiled by the Elias Sports Bureau of the only players to reach 1,000 career rebounds at a younger age:

BACK-TO-BACK
Thursday’s game in Phoenix is the first of a back-to-back set with the Suns and Nuggets. On the season, the Lakers are 2-0 in the first game and 2-0 in the second game of back-to-backs. This year, the Lakers will play 19 sets of back-to-back games during the 2008-09 regular season after having played 17 sets of back-to-backs in each of the previous two seasons. Last season, the Lakers were 13-4 in the first game and 12-5 in the second game of back-to-backs.

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
With their 95-106 loss to Detroit November 14, the Lakers suffered their first defeat of the 2008-09 season. The loss snapped a seven-game win streak that was the team’s longest to start a season since opening the 2001-02 season 7-0. Only twice in franchise history had the Lakers started the season with a better mark, going a franchisebest 11-0 to open the 1997-98 campaign and 8-0 to start the 1987-88 season. This was the second time under head coach Phil Jackson that the Lakers have opened the season 7-0 (2008-09, 2001-02). Only once has a Jackson-led team opened the season with a better record, with the 1996-97 Bulls going 12-0 to begin the season.