Rise of the Phoenix: Suns Beat Lakers To Cut Lead To 2-1 in NBA West Finals
Amar'e Stoudamire and the Phoenix Suns are still in this series.
Days after calling Lamar Odom's dominating Game One performance "lucky", Stoudamire tied his career playoff high with 42 points, and added 11 rebounds in the Suns 118-109 victory over the Lakers to cut L.A.'s lead in this best-of-seven Western Conference Finals series down to 2-1.
Stoudamire was just 1 of 4 Sun's players to score in double figures, all of whom had at least 17 points.
Stoudamire's career game was his highest scoring playoff game since 2008.
Steve Nash also made his presence felt in the game, adding 17 points and 15 assists.
Robin Lopez, in his most productive game by far this series, was very effective, scoring 20 points in 30 minutes, while returning from a back injury at the start of this series.
Kobe Bryant finished 1 rebound shy of a triple double, as he had 36 points, 11 assists, and 9 rebounds in a losing effort.
Pau Gasol added 23 points and 9 rebounds, but the Lakers did not receive much help from key role players.
L.A. also had trouble taking care of the ball, as they amassed 17 turnovers, to only 7 from Phoenix.
The Suns dominated the Lakers in fastbreak points, 18 to 3.
The Suns defense, which was mediocre at best through the first two games in this series, came through in important stretches during the game. Most notably in the 2nd quarter, where they allowed only 15 points, on less than 35 percent shooting.
Phoenix held the Lakers to 48 percent shooting for the game, much lower than the 58 percent shooting L.A. averaged through the first two games of the series.
Phoenix looks to tie the series in Game Four, which will be held Tuesday night.
The Suns played with the sense of urgency they needed to come out and get back in this series.
The defense played much better than in the first two games of this series and they must continue that trend. If they get big games from Stoudamire and Jason Richardson again, as well as limiting turnovers, this Western Conference Finals series could very well head back to Los Angeles tied.
