Phoenix Suns vs Los Angeles Lakers 118-103

Amare Stoudemire vs Kobe Bryant

PHOENIX Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points, Jared Dudley matched his career best with 19 and the Phoenix Suns sent the Los Angeles Lakers to their second loss in three games with a surprising 118-103 rout on Monday night.Kobe Bryant scored 34 for the Lakers but sat out the final 7:50 when the game was deemed out of reach by coach Phil Jackson.Steve Nash had 16 points and 13 assists and the Suns’ reserves outscored their Los Angeles counterparts 52-31.Phoenix led by as many as 12 in the second quarter, 19 in the third and 22 in the fourth to improve to 12-2 at home.The Lakers were without Ron Artest for the second game in a row. He sustained a concussion and an injured elbow in a fall at his house on Christmas Day.The margin matched the 15-point victory Cleveland had over the Lakers in Los Angeles three games ago. Only a late spurt kept it from being the most one-sided loss of the season for the reigning NBA champs.Los Angeles’ lone win in the last three came in double overtime two nights ago in Sacramento.

Channing Frye had 14 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for the Suns, who fought the much bigger Lakers to a 43-43 standoff on the boards.The Lakers, playing the third of four games in five days, trailed virtually all night. Leading 56-50 at the half, Phoenix used a 17-4 outburst to go up 87-68 on the first of Dudley’s three 3-pointers without a miss.Nash and Jason Richardson also had 3s in the run, while Stoudemire scored four, including a driving dunk.

Bryant scored nine straight Lakers points, but his driving layup at third-quarter buzzer was blocked by Robin Lopez, and the Suns led 89-77 entering the fourth.Dudley and Goran Dragic sank consecutive 3s and Phoenix led 108-89 with 6:51. By then, Bryant had sat down for good.Coach Alvin Gentry, taking no chances, reinserted Nash and Stoudemire in the lineup with 4:54 left and Phoenix leading 110-94. Stoudemire had a three-point play and Nash made a 3-pointer to give the Suns a 116-94 lead with 3:27 left.

A 12-0 run at the end of the first quarter and start of the second put Phoenix ahead 32-23 on Leandro Barbosa’s two free throws with 10:53 left in the half. Two more at the line by Barbosa gave the Suns their biggest lead of the first half at 39-27 with 8:13 to go.

Bryant’s 3-pointer, followed by his 15-footer cut it to 48-45 with 2:09 left in the half. Stoudemire scored the next six for the Suns, and after Bryant’s driving layup with 9.5 seconds left made it 54-51, Nash sank two free throws with 2.7 remaining to put the Suns up 56-51 at the break.

NOTES: Jackson said he is hopeful Artest will rejoin the team against Golden State Tuesday in Los Angeles. … The Suns lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles by 19 and 21 points. Phoenix was in the second of back-to-back games in both contests. … Phoenix has a victory over the teams with the three best records in the league – the Lakers, Boston and Orlando.

Phoenix suns vs dallas Mavericks 101- 102

Dirk Nowitzki

Mark Cuban got body-slammed through a table here Monday night by a professional wrestler as several Mavericks were sitting nearby.The players didn’t come to the Mavs owner’s rescue against a carrot-topped WWE villain named Sheamus on Monday Night Raw. But Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, J.J. Barea, Jason Terry and company climbed into the ring Tuesday night and battled to a 102-101 victory against the Suns. The Mavs halted a two-game losing streak and handed Phoenix its fourth straight road loss.

Nowitzki scored a game-high 33 points, his seventh 30-point game of the season. Howard added a season-high 20 points, six rebounds and three steals off the bench in his return from a month-long injury absence. Making his first start, Barea tied his season high with 14 and had six assists. Terry scored 15, including four free throws in the final 12.3 seconds. Jason Kidd tallied 11 assists as the Mavericks improved to 10-1 when dishing at least 25 dimes (26).

Steve Nash led the Suns with 27 points against his former team and drilled two late 3-pointers as Phoenix hacked away a nine-point deficit in the final 90 seconds. Richardson finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Amar’e Stoudemire added 20 points.

“Too little, too late,” Nash said. “We didn’t play well. We also let them out of the bag there for a small stretch in the second half, and couldn’t get them back. So very frustrating.”

The Mavs received an early boost from Barea and a late surge from Howard as they bounced back from ugly weekend losses to Memphis and Atlanta in which they averaged just 78.5 points. Barea scored eight of the Mavs’ first 10 points and sank six of his first seven shots. He went to the bench with his fourth foul early in the third quarter, but returned to spark a 9-2 run that gave Dallas a 77-70 edge entering the final frame.

“J.J. played extremely well. He kept us going again early when we were struggling,” Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said. “His combination of offense and energy helped us.”

Howard then provided a spark that had been missing with his aggressive and effective drives and timely outside shooting. He scored nine straight Dallas points and 16 of 22 during a stretch that turned a 66-66 tie into an 88-79 advantage with 5:53 remaining.

“He really kept us afloat,” Carlisle said. “He is the best cutter that we have. He is a great runner and he is probably our best driver. He is a dead-eye shooter from mid-range and he makes spot-up threes. He is invaluable, because all those things come into play over the course of our games somehow or another.”

An All-Star in 2006-07, Howard missed 18 of the first 21 games following offseason surgery on his left ankle. He averaged 12.7 points on 35.1 percent shooting in 22.3 minutes in three starts, but had not played since aggravating the injury on Nov. 11.

“It really helped to have Josh back out on the floor and his ability to take guys off the dribble, which he did a good job with tonight,” Nowitzki said. “He hit some big shots for us tonight. Once he gets a good rhythm going, we’ll be a really tough team to beat.”

Trailing 96-87 with 1:26 to play, Phoenix got a three-point play from Stoudemire and a rainbow 3-pointer by Nash over Nowitzki to pull within three. Kidd answered with a 23-foot jumper with his foot on the arc. But Richardson drained one from downtown to make it 99-96 with 21.8 seconds to play. After Terry hit two free throws with 12.3 ticks left, Nash answered again with another trey to trim the deficit to 100-99. Terry hit two more from the line, followed by two from the stripe for Nash. Terry was sent to the line again with 2.4 seconds left. He missed them both, but Richardson’s 65-foot heave was off the mark at the horn.

“We had no timeouts left, so in that situation you’ve got to pray that you’ve got Kobe Bryant on your team, I guess,” Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said.

The Mavericks won the battle of the boards 42-40 and improved to 11-0 when outrebounding their opponents. They were outscored 44-38 in the paint, but that was 28 more than they scored inside against the Hawks on Saturday night.

The road-weary Suns play nine of their next 13 at home, where they are a perfect 7-0 this year and have a 16-game winning streak dating back to last season.

“We don’t have a rhythm to our game. We haven’t the last three games,” Gentry said. “To win on the road, you’ve just got to be consistent in what you’re doing and we had a little lapse in there and that was the difference in the game.”