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 Guard Gerald Green came off the bench to score 26 points, and
forward Markieff Morris added 23 points and 10 rebounds as the
Phoenix Suns beat Los Angeles 112-106 Tuesday night at Staples
Center.
The Lakers fell to 0-5, their worst season start since the club
moved to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season. Only the 1957-58
Minneapolis Lakers, who started 0-7, had a slower beginning.
Los Angeles is the lone winless team in the Western Conference.
Reserve guard Isaiah Thomas had 22 points and nine assists for
Phoenix (3-1).
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who scored a season-high 39 points and
grabbed nine rebounds, was fairly blunt with his assessment of the
Lakers.
"Just get a damn win," he said.
Bryant hoisted 37 shots from the floor, hitting 14, in 44 minutes.
He made three of seven 3-point shots.
 "We just got to be determined," Bryant said. "You can't listen to
what everybody says. You can't listen to criticism or whatever
people are saying. You got to be stubborn as a mule. You got to keep
chipping away. You got to keep competing, and this thing will turn
around."
Point guard Jeremy Lin finished with 18 points, his top total in a
Lakers uniform, while center Jordan Hill had 15 points, 15 rebounds
and three blocks for his first double-double of the season.
The Lakers played catch-up for much of the contest. The Suns took a
58-46 halftime lead, largely on the play of Thomas and Green, who
finished the first half with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Green,
who was cut by the Lakers three seasons ago, scored all of his
first-half points in the second period, while Thomas added 11 in the
quarter. They combined to convert 10 of 14 shots.
"That's my role, to come in and just try to score," said Green, who
connected on 11 of 19 attempts from the field on the night,
including two of four 3-point attempts. "I just try to come in and
just be assertive and not try to take crazy shots. The team did a
good job of running a whole bunch of sets for me in the beginning to
try to get me going early."
The Suns' bench outscored the Lakers' 53-17.
"Our second group was great tonight," Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek
said. "(Green) and Isaiah Thomas really got the group going in the
second quarter, then again in the third and fourth quarter. That's
the strength of our team, our depth."
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Two free throws by Lin with about four minutes remaining in the game
pulled the Lakers within 98-97. However, guard Goran Dragic, who
finished with 16 points, hit two free throws, and a three-point play
by guard Eric Bledsoe put the Suns up 103-97 with 2:43 remaining in
the game.
A put-back dunk by Hill with 1:39 left cut the deficit to four, but
Morris answered with a jumper with 1:21 left.
Bryant's 3-point basket at 1:07 sliced the Suns' lead to 106-104,
but two foul shots by Bledsoe pushed the lead back to four with 51.5
seconds remaining.
After a Bryant miss, Suns forward P.J. Tucker nailed a 3-pointer
with 19.9 seconds remaining, sending the home fans to the exits.
"I thought we had some moments where we did have strong efforts, and
I thought the last two (or) three minutes we had just breakdowns on
the defensive end," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "They see the
film that we see, so obviously pick-and-roll defense, putting our
bigs into it was key to get to the basket, and our bigs didn't do a
very good job contending (against) those guys."
Los Angeles reserve forward Ryan Kelly, previously out with
hamstring injuries, made his debut and scored two points in seven
minutes.
NOTES: Lakers rookie F Julius Randle met with the media for the
first time since fracturing his right tibia in the opening-night
loss to the Houston Rockets on Oct. 28. Randle, who had surgery the
following day, is out for the season. ... Phoenix recorded a 119-99
win over the Lakers in the teams' initial meeting on Oct. 29. The
clubs meet again Dec. 28 at Staples Center. ... The Suns host the
Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. ... The Lakers get a four-day break
before hosting the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.
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