Phoenix Suns use balanced offense to knock over Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers – NBA Recap
Michael Redd scored 17 of his 23 points in the second quarter, while ex Los Angeles Laker, Shannon Brown erupted with 20 of his 24 points in the third quarter as the Phoenix Suns continued their strong charge toward the playoff spot with a 125-105 win over the Kobe Bryant less Lakers.
Bryant was kicked in the left chin in the game against the New Orleans Hornets last week, but braved through pain agsints Houston Rockets last night. He limped through that game but the pain finally forced him to miss his first game in two seasons tonight. Without Bryant, the Lakers offense did not have the bite to match the resurgent Suns, who scored their season high points and are now just one game behind the eighth seed Denver Nuggets.
On the night, the Suns bench outscored their counter parts 58-10. Only three Laker reserves managed to get their name on the score sheet, with 4 being the highest form Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts.
With the bench refusing to come to the party, Pau Gasol led five Laker starters in double figures with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Andrew Bynum had 23 points with 18 boards; Metta World Peace posted 19 while Ramon Session nearly missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 assists. David Ebanks, who started in Kobe’s place, also had 12 points.
Phoenix which won the fourth game in the last five had a seven star offense. Marcin Gortat was their third leading scorer with 14 and 9 rebounds while Sebastian Telfair, Markieff Morris and Steve Nash had 13 points. Nash also dished out 11 assists for the Suns, who also got 11 from Channing Frye.
The game panned out evenly and midway through the first, the scores were levelled at 12 apiece. Within a span of 26 seconds, Gasol drilled two mid range jumpers and the Lakers set off on a 14-4 run to open up a double digit lead, 26-16. Suns responded with four consecutive shots, but the Lakers answered back every time and closed the first frame at 32-24.
The second quarter was all about Redd and Telfair, who scored all of his 13 points in the period. The duo combined for 30 of the 38 Suns points in the frame, in which the Lakers were outscored were 13.
Phoenix knocked down five three pointers inside the first seven minutes of the stanza, the last one giving them a 48-46 lead with 5:35 to go till the break. The Lakers kept on pushing back and a Bynum deuce put them at 57-59 before a three point play from Telfair made it 62-57.
Suns carried the momentum into the third quarter and stretched their lead to 12 inside the first five minutes of the third. The Lakers responded immediately with an 8-2 run, but keyed by Brown, the Suns reeled off an 18-8 spurt to close the third at 99-83.
The result was never in question after that and the teams played through the motions in the fourth.
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