Suns Lose to Lakers in Home Opener

Someone might want to let the Suns know the regular season has started.

Playing with all the urgency of a training camp scrimmage through much of Thursday’s season opener, the Suns were able to sidestep embarrassment in Seattle when a young Sonics team folded down the stretch.

But another half-hearted effort in Friday’s home opener left Phoenix standing right in the path of the inspired and motivated Los Angeles Lakers — who did anything they wanted in a 119-98 dismantling that was every bit as one-sided as the final score indicated.

The sellout crowd at US Airways Center began the night booing favorite foil Kobe Bryant whenever he touched the ball. But by the second quarter, all boos were reserved for the home team — which was more than deserving.

“Our defense was … without any juice or heart,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Give them credit; they hit shots (57 percent), but we can’t be small, light and slow, and tonight that’s what we were.”

The Suns also aren’t scoring. Raja Bell backed up a 2-for-9 shooting night in Seattle with a 1-for-8 effort Friday. Shawn Marion had nine of his 14 points from 3-point range. Steve Nash had one assist in the first half – Marcus Banks had three of the six Phoenix managed.

Leandro Barbosa led the Suns with 23 points, but 17 of them came late in the fourth quarter when the game was long over.

“We got outplayed from the start of the game,” said forward Grant Hill. “I guess we’re not going to win all 82.”

For more coverage of Phoenix sports, be sure to visit eastvalleytribune.com

The Lakers, with all the hoopla surrounding the Bryant trade rumors, were supposed to be the team in disarray. Instead, they made the Suns look like a lottery team.

“We’re known to play a better game than that, and come Sunday (against Cleveland), we will,” said center Amaré Stoudemire, who managed only seven points on 2-of-10 shooting and was in early foul trouble for the second time in two nights. “We didn’t get stops, we didn’t shoot well and they attacked us.”

Stoudemire and the other Suns have done a lot of talking about improving their defense in training camp. But it’s hard to tell what’s more alarming so far — the inflated point totals or the incredible ease with which opponents march toward the Phoenix hoop.

A Suns team that gave up 58 first-half points at Seattle Thursday yielded 63 in the first 24 minutes to the Lakers. That total would have been worse if L.A. hadn’t gone cold and scored only seven points in the last five minutes.

And that doesn’t explain the other end of the court — where a team that led the NBA in scoring, 3-point shooting and free throw shooting inexplicably had trouble with all of them.

Phoenix missed 7 of 11 3-point attempts and seven free throws in the first half alone — four by Leandro Barbosa, who shot 85 percent from the line last year.

COPYRIGHT 2007, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE. Used with permission.