Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 42 points as the Los Angeles Lakers quarreled with the Phoenix Suns through three overtimes before finding judgment by the score of 139-137 on Tuesday. Bryant actually flirted with a triple-double, with 12 rebounds and nine assists. When you go 63 minutes, as the Lakers and Suns did, everyone has a solid chance at lots and lots of rebounds. Some 108 rebounds were available during the course of the game, as the team took a combined 226 shots.
Suns Vs. Lakers: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Finally Break Phoenix In Third Overtime
Channing Frye was the hero for the Suns, with 32 points, 14 rebounds and a few clutch shots. And no matter what happens to the Suns the rest of this season, history will smile on them as players who never, never quit. Down 21 in regulation and trailing in each overtime period, Phoenix continued to fight. It nearly earned the team an improbable win it needs in its quest for a playoff birth. Instead, the Suns remain in the back seat, while the Lakers take further advantage in the No. 2 spot.
Frye played 57 minutes, and Lamar Odom -- starting for a suspended Andrew Bynum -- played 55. Marcin Gortat was downright Odomesque, with 24 points and 16 rebounds in 53 minutes. The game was remarkably clean; the Lakers somehow committed just nine turnovers, and the Suns 13. (The Kings can do 13 in a quarter.) Few players had objectively bad nights, though Derek Fisher -- the great clutch bogeyman -- qualifies; he shot 0-7 in 46 minutes, his only points on a pair of free throws. And you know he's not out there for defense, not as Steve Nash carves out 19 points and 20 assists.
In case you thought the world was fair: the Lakers are off until Friday, while the Suns play Wednesday. Gortat, Frye and Nash might need to play with IVs.
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