Lakers Gameday | 02/26/09 | Lakers 132, Suns 106
 Los Angeles Lakers(48-10) Western Conference Standing : 1 Streak: Won 6 |
 |
 Phoenix Suns (32-25) Western Conference Standing : 9 Streak: Lost 1 |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Injury Report | Injury Report | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
---Francisco Gomez, Lakers.com
|
Box Score | Play-by-Play | Quotes
|
|
|||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | ||||||||||||
| Los Angeles Lakers | Phoenix Suns | |||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
Bryant's Lakers beat Shaq's Suns 132-106 LOS ANGELES(AP) Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal got together for the first time since sharing MVP honors at the All-Star game. It was no contest, especially without Steve Nash. The Los Angeles Lakers scored 70 points in the first half and rolled past the Nash-less Phoenix Suns 132-106 Thursday night for their sixth consecutive victory. Bryant had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers, while O'Neal had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Suns, who trail first-place Los Angeles by 15 games in the Pacific Division. The good feelings shared by Bryant and O'Neal during All-Star weekend in Phoenix continued in their seventh career head-to-head meeting. Bryant put his left arm around O'Neal and thumped him on the chest with his right fist before tip-off after teammate Luke Walton hugged O'Neal. O'Neal was warmly received by the crowd at Staples Center, where the Lakers improved to 27-4 and have won four in a row. Lamar Odom had 23 points to lead the Lakers and Pau Gasol added 16 points and nine rebounds. Leandro Barbosa and Alando Tucker, who started in place of Nash, led Phoenix with 18 points each, and Jason Richardson added 13. Alvin Gentry fell to 4-2 as interim coach. The Suns had won four of their previous five games since the All-Star break, but they played without All-Stars Nash and Amare Stoudemire, putting them at a decided disadvantage before the game even started. Nash is day to day with a sprained right ankle suffered Tuesday night against Charlotte, while Stoudemire could be away up to eight weeks after having eye surgery last Friday. The Suns fell to 2-4 this season without Nash in the lineup, and 6-17 in games without him since the 2004-05 season. The Lakers took advantage early, scoring 70 points in the first half - two off their season high - while shooting 62 percent from the floor. The Suns hadn't given up close to that many points in a half this season. Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson paired Odom with four reserves for much of the second quarter, and the Lakers didn't miss a beat in building a 19-point lead. He wanted to rest the starters as much as possible ahead of Friday night's game in Denver, where the Lakers could close February with a 12-1 record. Los Angeles went up by 25 points in the third quarter, when the Suns got no closer than 11 early on. Gasol's turn to lead the second unit came in the fourth quarter, when he played the first few minutes before joining Bryant, Odom, Walton and Derek Fisher on the bench as the reserves cruised to a 28-point lead. Sasha Vujacic led the Lakers' bench with 14 points, helping them outscore Phoenix's reserves 58-37. Notes: Los Angeles scored 72 points in the first half against Washington on Jan. 22. ... The Lakers lead the season series 3-0. ... Odom had nine rebounds, giving him 129 over his last nine games in the best rebounding stretch of his career. ... When Nash returns, he needs three points to reach 13,000 in his career. Copyright 2008 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited  LAKERS-SUNS PREVIEW VIDEO
by Mike Trudell, Lakers.com Though Phoenix brought back Mike D’Antoni’s “Seven Seconds or Less” offense after axing head coach Terry Porter and promoting assistant Alvin Gentry, they’ll be running it without quarterback Steve Nash, who sprained his ankle on Tuesday, and Amare Stoudemire, who’s out for the regular season with an eye injury. LAKERS-SUNS PREVIEW
by Mike Trudell, Lakers.com How busy have things been in Phoenix lately? Not wanting to mess around, we dialed up Suns.com’s Steven Koek to tell us all about the Terry Porter/Alvin Gentry coaching change, the ensuing new (and old) style of play for the Suns, Amare’s eye injury, All-Star Weekend and the Western Playoff picture.
Lakers - Suns Preview
Even when they're not playing at their exceedingly high standards, the Los Angeles Lakers keep finding ways to win. The Phoenix Suns are finding that an up-tempo style provides their best shot to post victories. Though Phoenix is Los Angeles' closest pursuer in the Pacific Division, a huge gap remains between the rivals going into their matchup Thursday night. Los Angeles (47-10) returns to Staples Center after winning its fifth straight and 16th in 18 games on Tuesday, 107-93 over Oklahoma City. Kobe Bryant scored 15 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder nearly erased the Lakers' 18-point third-quarter lead. "We're pushing for perfection," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. "We can play better than what we played tonight." Odom had just eight points and eight rebounds versus Oklahoma City after averaging 19.0 points and 16.0 boards in his previous seven contests. After the Thunder pulled within 79-77, Bryant re-entered with 9:17 left and scored the Lakers' next eight points and 13 of their next 17 as Los Angeles built a 10-point lead. Bryant, though, rolled his right ankle with 4:01 remaining when he was fouled going up for a layup. He returned after a timeout. "It was my ankle, but I've got ankle insurance," said Bryant, who moved past Adrian Dantley for 19th place on the league's all-time scoring list. "I'm fine." It's unlikely Bryant, averaging 33.3 points in his last four games, is going to let a minor ankle injury keep him out Thursday when he can face former teammate Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant and O'Neal shared All-Star Game MVP honors on Feb. 15, but the former Lakers duo hasn't been on the same court for a regular-season game since the teams' first meeting this season - Los Angeles' 105-92 victory in Phoenix on Nov. 20. O'Neal, who had 15 points and nine boards in that loss, was attending his grandmother's funeral in New Jersey and missed the teams' most recent meeting on Dec. 10 as the host Lakers defeated the Suns 115-110. Phoenix traded Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary to Charlotte earlier that day, so it had just eight players available. Not only have the Suns retooled their lineup with the addition of Jason Richardson in that Dec. 10 deal, they've reinstated their fastbreak style under coach Alvin Gentry, who took over for the fired Terry Porter on Feb. 16. Phoenix (32-24) improved to 4-1 since Gentry took over with a 112-102 win over Charlotte on Tuesday. The Suns are averaging 128.4 points and shooting 56.7 percent from the field in their last five games, though they are 14 1/2 games behind the Western Conference-leading Lakers. Steve Nash had 22 points against Charlotte but left the game in the third quarter with a right ankle injury. He returned in the fourth quarter and the two-time MVP said he doesn't expect the ankle to keep him sidelined. Richardson also suffered a right ankle injury but scored 20 points against his former team. "He had a good game, but he really made some big baskets more than anything," Nash told the team's official Web site. In his last game visiting the Lakers, Richardson had 34 points and 10 boards in the Bobcats' 108-95 win on March 26, 2008. The Lakers have won five of six meetings since being ousted by the Suns in the 2007 playoffs. Copyright 2008 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited GAME NOTES
NOTES & CONNECTIONS The Lakers lead their season series with the Suns 2-0 after taking last season’s
SCOUTING REPORT
The Phoenix Suns have brought back their old “seven seconds or less” mentality and offensive approach. They are back to runnin’ and gunnin’ under new head coach Alvin Gentry. They are 4-1 since the all-star break. Steve Nash is back to being the catalyst of their offense with the ball in his hand most of the time as he orchestrates their offense and fastbreak. The Suns are looking to run so much that their lane runners sometimes are leaking out before Phoenix secures the rebound. The Suns will run a high volume of screen and rolls and while some are scripted (set play calls) most are not. They are a very good drive and kick team. The Suns are absolutely explosive in transition off of turnovers so we MUST MUST MUST protect the ball tonight. We cannot feed their frenzy by turning it over. Also, there will be chances for us to run because the Suns’ guards sometimes get buried off of their own penetrations but we must not get sucked into playing their style of ball.
LAKERS UPDATES
BRYANT MOVES PAST BAYLOR & DANTLEY FOR 19th ON NBA’S ALL-TIME SCORING LIST; GASOL EARNS 2ND STRAIGHT WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD; 5th CAREER HONOR THREE LAKERS EARN PLAYER OF THE WEEK; 11th TIME IN AWARD’S HISTORY, FIRST SINCE 2004-05 |
Recent Stories on Lakers.com
Recent Videos
Related Content
Lakers
-
April 21, 2018
-
April 21, 2018
-
April 20, 2018
-
April 20, 2018
-
April 19, 2018
-
April 19, 2018
