Bryant's 41 send Lakers past Suns
Kobe Bryant scored 41 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers spoil Shaquille O'Neal's Phoenix debut with a 130-124 victory over the host Suns on Wednesday night.
Pau Gasol added 29, including a breakaway dunk that put Los Angeles up 123-117 with 1:15 to play. Lamar Odom added 22 for the Lakers, who won their sixth in a row to move into a tie with Phoenix atop the Pacific Division.
O'Neal scored 9 of his 15 points in the final quarter and grabbed 9 rebounds in 29 minutes against his old team in his first game in nearly a month. He came to the Suns a week ago in an unexpected trade that sent Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Miami. O'Neal played for the Lakers from 1996-2004.
Amare Stoudemire had 37 points and 15 rebounds for Phoenix, while Steve Nash added 26 points and 8 assists, and Leandro Barbosa had 17 points.
O'Neal's debut came against the team he led to three NBA titles, and the visitors were in control most of the way.
Los Angeles led by as many as 13 in the first half and was up 65-57 at the break.
Phoenix finally caught up when O'Neal forced a turnover, then scored on a short hook inside to make it 87-87 with 2:31 left in the period. Gasol's hook shot at the buzzer gave Los Angeles a 95-91 lead entering the fourth.
After Bryant's layup made it 105-97 with 1:05 to play, rookie D.J. Strawberry twice passed to Barbosa for breakaway layups, then drew an offensive foul against Bryant. Stoudemire followed with a 3-point play and Phoenix led for the first time since the early minutes 107-106 with 7:26 remaining.
The Lakers came back, though, and Gasol's 3-point play with 5:43 left capped a 9-2 spurt to put Los Angeles ahead 115-108 5:43 from the end. But O'Neal scored the next 6 points, the last 2 on a goaltending call against Bryant, to cut it to 115-114. O'Neal sprinted to the defensive end of the floor after the two points.
Bryant scored inside to put Los Angeles up 117-114 with 4:04 to play. Moments later, O'Neal slammed teammate Raja Bell in the head with an elbow, forcing the Suns guard out of the game. O'Neal made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 117-115 with 3:40 to go.
Bryant's 19-footer made it to 119-115 with 2:50 to go, but Nash's 2 free throws, on Derrick Fisher's fifth foul, cut the lead to 119-117 with 1:49 remaining.
Odom got free for a layup, Gasol got his breakaway, and it was over.
Hornets spoil Kidd's debut: Chris Paul had 31 points, 11 assist and a career-high 9 steals, spoiling Jason Kidd's debut with Dallas and lifting the Hornets to a 104-93 victory over the Mavericks on Wednesday night in New Orleans.
Kidd, acquired Tuesday from New Jersey, looked out of sorts at times, committing 6 turnovers.
Meanwhile, Paul's dazzling performance on both ends of the floor had the enraptured crowd on its feet, raining down chants of "M-V-P!" for their own all-star point guard while a banner offering similar sentiments flapped from the upper deck.
Kidd, who had practiced only twice with his new team, finished with 8 points and 5 assists.
While Paul dribbled surgically through Dallas' defense, Peja Stojakovic and Bobby Jackson shot with precision from the perimeter, combining for 8 of the Hornets' 10 3-pointers as the Hornets won their fifth straight.
Stojakovic made three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, while Jackson hit 5 and wound up with 17 points. David West also scored 18 for New Orleans, despite playing with foul trouble in the second half.
Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 31 points, reserve Jason Terry scored 14 and Erick Dampier 11.
Paul, whose 9 steals tied a franchise high, scored 19 points in the third quarter, when he hit all seven of his shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help New Orleans surge to an 11-point lead.