Lakers Gameday | 03/01/09 | Suns 118, Lakers 111

PHOENIX(AP) Shaquille O'Neal scored 33 points and the Phoenix Suns overcame a 49-point performance by Kobe Bryant to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 118-111 on Sunday.

Matt Barnes added 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Suns, without Steve Nash for the third straight game because of a sprained right ankle, beat the Lakers for the first time in four tries this season.

Pau Gasol added 30 for the Lakers, who have lost two in a row for just the third time this season.

After his 45-point game against Toronto on Friday night, O'Neal has consecutive 30-point games for the first time since March 5-7, 2004, when he and Bryant were dominating teammates in Los Angeles.

Bryant made 18 of a season-high 38 attempts in the 96th 40-point game of his career. He scored 17 points in a span of less than four minutes early in the second half.

Leandro Barbosa added 22 points and Grant Hill 17 for the Suns, who improved to 6-2 since Alvin Gentry replaced the fired Terry Porter and returned the team to Mike D'Antoni's fast-paced style. It was the Gentry-led Suns' first win, though, over a team with a winning record.

Phoenix is 1 1/2 games behind Dallas for the eighth and final playoff berth in the West.

Barnes scored seven in a row to put Phoenix ahead 114-103 with 1:26 to play. He started the spurt with two free throws, sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key, then added two more from the foul line.

The Lakers finished with an 8-1 spurt but ran out of time in a game they trailed most of the way.

Phoenix led by as many as 15 in the first half were up by 10 at the break.

Then, Bryant scored his remarkable 17 in a 19-2 Lakers' outburst that erased a 12-point deficit and put Los Angeles ahead 75-70 on his 3-pointer with 6:24 left in the third quarter. Bryant made two 3s and converted a three-point play on a driving layup and foul by O'Neal during the surge.

It was a short-lived advantage.

After a time out, Phoenix scored the next 13 to go up 83-75 on O'Neal's three-point play with 3:33 left in the quarter. Robin Lopez blocked Jordan Farmar's layup try, leading to a breakaway layup by Barbosa at the buzzer that put the Suns ahead 91-81 entering the final quarter.

With Bryant on the bench, the Lakers started the fourth with a 11-2 run. Trevor Ariza made to 3-pointers and Sasha Vujacic one. Josh Powell's 14-footer cut Phoenix's lead to 94-92 with 10:26 remaining.

Los Angeles cut the lead to three on three occasions before Jason Richardson over-his-head layup and O'Neal's basket over Gasol put the Suns ahead 106-99 with 4:45 left.

The Lakers' Lamar Odom fouled out with 8:31 to play after scoring four points on 2-for-3 shooting in 23 minutes.

Notes: Nash planned to give the ankle a try, but was scratched from the lineup shortly before tipoff. ... The Lakers' only first-half lead was at 2-0. ... The Suns begin a four-game, six-day road trip Tuesday night at Orlando. ... Phoenix is 4-4 without Nash this season. ... The Lakers last lost two in a row Jan. 14-16, at San Antonio and home against Orlando. ... The Lakers won the season series with Phoenix 3-1 for the second year in a row.

Shaquille O'Neal's best days were supposedly behind him. Apparently that's not the case.

After recording his first 40-plus point game since his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, O'Neal faces his former team for the second time in four days Sunday afternoon as the Phoenix Suns look to snap a three-game home losing streak to a Lakers team coming off one of the franchise's worst performances ever.

O'Neal, who turns 37 next Friday, hit 20 of 25 shots and scored 45 on Friday night as the Suns (33-25) defeated visiting Toronto 133-113. It was his 49th career 40-plus point game and first since scoring 48 for Los Angeles in a 104-96 win over Boston on March 21, 2003.

O'Neal had 37 40-plus point games with the Lakers from 1996-04.

"If I can get the touches like that, it doesn't matter who is down there," said O'Neal, who grabbed 11 rebounds against the Raptors for his 22nd double-double of the season. "They're going to have to double or triple me down there. If they don't, especially with the way I'm shooting free throws, they will have to pay."

O'Neal is shooting a career-best 62.9 percent from the foul line.

In Thursday's 132-106 loss to the host Lakers (48-11), O'Neal had 12 points and seven boards as Phoenix fell to 1-6 against Los Angeles since eliminating its Pacific Division rival from the first round of the 2007 Western Conference playoffs.

Having Steve Nash on the court Sunday would help, but he is questionable after missing the last two games with a sprained right ankle suffered in Phoenix's 112-102 win over Charlotte on Tuesday. The Suns have dropped five of eight this season without the two-time league MVP.

Last season's MVP, Kobe Bryant, had 29 points in Friday's 90-79 loss at Denver but missed 21 of 31 shots from the field.

Los Angeles, among the league's top shooting teams at 47.7 percent, had its six-game winning streak snapped as it made a season-low 29.8 percent from the field. It was its second-worst shooting effort since the franchise relocated to Los Angeles prior to the 1960-61 season.

The Lakers shot 29.4 percent in a 104-78 loss at Utah on Nov. 3, 2004.

"That was a garbage game, no doubt about it," coach Phil Jackson said Friday. "I wish we could repay the fans some money for that game. Neither team played very well, but they played better than us."

Friday's game was the Lakers' third in four nights.

"They played really aggressively defensively," Bryant said. "On top of that, we just didn't have any legs. On top of them doing a good job and us having no legs, we just had a horrible shooting effort."

Bryant, though, had his best shooting performance of the season, in terms of percentage, by hitting 10 of 13 shots (76.9) and scoring 22 points Thursday as the Lakers improved to 3-0 against Phoenix this season.

Lamar Odom posted his eighth double-double of the season Friday with 12 points and 19 rebounds but shot just 5-of-17 from the field. He hit 11 of 12 shots and scored 23 in Thursday's victory.