| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Even on a bad night, the Los Angeles Lakers
can beat most teams.
The Lakers, outrebounded 48-38 and outhustled at times by the
injury-plagued Phoenix Suns, still managed to hold on for a 109-101
victory Friday night.
Shaquille O'Neal scored 40 points, his fourth time reaching that
plateau in the last seven games. He had 15 points, including making
6-for-9 from the free-throw line, as the Lakers held the Suns at
bay in the final quarter.
|  | | Stop Shaq? At 6-foot-7, the Suns' Rodney Rogers couldn't do it. |
O'Neal, his free-throw shooting better lately, finished 10-of-13
from the line.
"Now that I'm making them (free throws), I don't get to the
line like I'm supposed to because the league doesn't want me to
average 50 (points). That's all a different story," O'Neal said.
"I just say to myself, `Hit them all and especially hit the
ones like you're supposed to in the fourth quarter.' "
The Suns, in their first game since losing Jason Kidd to a
season-ending ankle injury, never led and were down 87-75 with 10
minutes remaining.
But they closed to 104-101 on Todd Day's 3-pointer with 41
seconds remaining, before the Lakers' Kobe Bryant hit three of four
free throws and Robert Horry made two more free throws for the
final margin.
"We want to be a team that executes constantly and
flawlessly," said Bryant, who scored 28. "Tonight we had a lot of
gaps and execution problems. We didn't have all of our energy in
the shootaround today, and it showed in the game. We were a little
lethargic. But to be able to hold them off all night long makes it
a good win for us, in that sense."
The win was the fifth straight for the Lakers, a mini-streak
they began after having their 19-game victory string ended by
Washington. The loss ended Phoenix's five-game winning streak.
Penny Hardaway led the Suns with 25 points. Cliff Robinson added
22 and Rodney Rogers had 16 off the bench.
"It was a great effort. I thought we played really hard,"
Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "Every time we got close, it
seemed like something just didn't go our way and we just couldn't
get over the hump."
Kidd had surgery on his left ankle Thursday after injuring it
just before halftime the previous night in a 114-93 win over
Sacramento. Phoenix lost another key player, Tom Gugliotta, earlier
this month to surgery on his left knee.
"We played the No. 1 team in the league and almost beat them,"
Hardaway said. "We are not going to give up and we're not going to
fall out of the fourth spot (in the Western Conference), either.
We're going to stay there and play hard every game.
Kidd's replacement, Randy Livingston, scored eight points, had
two assists and one rebound in 25 minutes.
Game notes
When the Suns lost Kidd and Gugliotta, they lost a combined
28 points, 15.1 rebounds and 12.4 assists a game. Kidd was
averaging 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and an NBA-high 10.1 assists.
... The Lakers have won 12 straight at home and their 31 victories
tie Indiana for most home victories.
| |
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
LA Lakers Clubhouse
No Kidd-ing: Suns bring back KJ to offset injury
RECAPS
Philadelphia 117
Boston 115
Charlotte 102
Toronto 84
Minnesota 116
New Jersey 115
New York 95
Atlanta 83
Orlando 112
Houston 96
Miami 99
Milwaukee 87
Chicago 70
Denver 68
Utah 98
Seattle 95
Portland 96
Golden State 83
LA Lakers 109
Phoenix 101
Sacramento 113
Detroit 103
|
