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Phoenix downed LA in LA today to extend their winning streak to 4 games, their best for the season. Even more impressive is that 3/4 winas have been on the road (@ Portland, Denver and LA) considering the Suns have one of the worst road records in the league this is quite an achievement. Amare Stoudemire was out, and will miss the next game as well, as he injured his ankle again. Admittedly LA had Shaw, Kobe and Malone all out, but that wont take the shine off an impressive win for Phoenix.
Johnson, Voskuhl Help Suns Shine
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19 (Ticker) -- Jake Voskuhl found the injury-plagued Los Angeles Lakers a little soft inside.
Voskuhl had season highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds and made two huge layups off offensive rebounds in the final 84 seconds as the Phoenix Suns posted an 88-85 victory over the depleted Lakers for their season-high fourth straight win.
Los Angeles is dealing with injuries to center Shaquille O'Neal, guard Kobe Bryant and forward Karl Malone. Voskuhl helped expose the weaknesses of the Lakers, who had trouble protecting the paint without the formidable presence of O'Neal and Malone inside.
"I wouldn't say soft," Voskuhl said. "Now that those guys are hurt, you just have younger players who haven't been in game-type situations like that. Their core group of big guys out there are young guys."
Joe Johnson scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, but Voskuhl made the final two baskets for Phoenix. He tipped in a miss by Johnson with 1:24 left to give the Suns the lead for good at 86-84.
After Lakers guard Derek Fisher made 1-of-2 free throws, Voskuhl beat Slava Medvedenko to the rebound of a missed jumper by Howard Eisley and made a layup for an 88-85 cushion with 47 seconds left.
"Jake stepped up big tonight and that's what we need," Johnson said. "Any night it could be someone different stepping up and making big plays and Jake came up with some key buckets in the end that gave us a big win."
The teams exchanged misses before Fisher missed a pair of long-range 3-pointers in the final seconds.
"They just didn't go down," Fisher said. "I could have helped set that up better by knocking down a couple of those free throws to put us in a better position. I feel worse about that than I do missing those shots at the end."
Phoenix extended its winning streak to four games despite the absence of forward Amaré Stoudemire, who was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds and Shawn Marion had 10 points and nine boards as the Suns held a 47-40 edge on the glass and outscored the Lakers 38-28 in the paint.
"We have to learn how to rebound the basketball and know how to box out," said Los Angeles guard Gary Payton, who had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. "We are a little undermanned so everybody has to come and help out and we did not do that."
Kareem Rush scored 18 points, Bryon Russell added 17 and Medvedenko had 15 for the Lakers, who never led in a fourth quarter that featured six of the game's 11 ties.
Los Angeles starting forward Devean George was scoreless on 0-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes as Los Angeles shot just 38 percent (31-of-81) from the floor but made 9-of-22 3-pointers.
Johnson, Voskuhl Help Suns Shine
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19 (Ticker) -- Jake Voskuhl found the injury-plagued Los Angeles Lakers a little soft inside.
Voskuhl had season highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds and made two huge layups off offensive rebounds in the final 84 seconds as the Phoenix Suns posted an 88-85 victory over the depleted Lakers for their season-high fourth straight win.
Los Angeles is dealing with injuries to center Shaquille O'Neal, guard Kobe Bryant and forward Karl Malone. Voskuhl helped expose the weaknesses of the Lakers, who had trouble protecting the paint without the formidable presence of O'Neal and Malone inside.
"I wouldn't say soft," Voskuhl said. "Now that those guys are hurt, you just have younger players who haven't been in game-type situations like that. Their core group of big guys out there are young guys."
Joe Johnson scored 10 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, but Voskuhl made the final two baskets for Phoenix. He tipped in a miss by Johnson with 1:24 left to give the Suns the lead for good at 86-84.
After Lakers guard Derek Fisher made 1-of-2 free throws, Voskuhl beat Slava Medvedenko to the rebound of a missed jumper by Howard Eisley and made a layup for an 88-85 cushion with 47 seconds left.
"Jake stepped up big tonight and that's what we need," Johnson said. "Any night it could be someone different stepping up and making big plays and Jake came up with some key buckets in the end that gave us a big win."
The teams exchanged misses before Fisher missed a pair of long-range 3-pointers in the final seconds.
"They just didn't go down," Fisher said. "I could have helped set that up better by knocking down a couple of those free throws to put us in a better position. I feel worse about that than I do missing those shots at the end."
Phoenix extended its winning streak to four games despite the absence of forward Amaré Stoudemire, who was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds and Shawn Marion had 10 points and nine boards as the Suns held a 47-40 edge on the glass and outscored the Lakers 38-28 in the paint.
"We have to learn how to rebound the basketball and know how to box out," said Los Angeles guard Gary Payton, who had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. "We are a little undermanned so everybody has to come and help out and we did not do that."
Kareem Rush scored 18 points, Bryon Russell added 17 and Medvedenko had 15 for the Lakers, who never led in a fourth quarter that featured six of the game's 11 ties.
Los Angeles starting forward Devean George was scoreless on 0-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes as Los Angeles shot just 38 percent (31-of-81) from the floor but made 9-of-22 3-pointers.
