Suns Send the Lakers Packing

The wise guy in the fourth row initiated a “Let’s go Clippers!” chant, though the departing Clippers’ H2s had passed the arriving Lakers’ H2s in the Staples Center parking lot hours before.

Nobody joined in, but it amused him, and maybe that alone was worth the price of the ticket.

These are days of adjusted expectations for the Lakers, down three potential Hall of Famers and trying to make something of it until the trainer’s room empties.

So, while Laker fans devised small diversions for themselves and the Lakers themselves strained against the frail knees and calves and shoulders among them, the Phoenix Suns showed up Monday on the second night of a back-to-back and won, 88-85.

The loss was just the Lakers’ second in six games, and it was not official until Derek Fisher missed two three-point attempts in the final seconds, the first short from 30 feet and the second long from 32. Joe Johnson had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns, who arrived with the worst record in the Western Conference and then were the ones who held up in the final minutes.

Five Lakers scored in double figures. Kareem Rush scored 18 points but struggled in his defensive assignment against Johnson, and Bryon Russell, in his first start as a Laker, scored 17.

They played on the eve of a flight to Memphis, on the brink of their most difficult stretch of games this season, thick in road games and contenders that will last well past the All-Star Game.

Twenty-two of the next 30 games will be away from home. Asked how they’d get through it, Coach Phil Jackson smiled and said, “Postpone the first week’s games and play them later in the season. Buy some time.”

These Lakers have their limitations in depth and talent and experience. But they hand the basketball to Gary Payton, and let Slava Medvedenko and Rush fire away, and try to play just a little bit better today than they did yesterday.

Some days they run into the Sacramento Kings, and it might not ever matter, not until Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone return. Other days, they get the Suns, at home, and for a long time just enough jumpers fall to allow them to think they’ve pushed collapse back another day.

“We gotta look past all the injuries,” Payton said. “We keep talking about them, but we can’t do anything about them.”

A poor team under the best of circumstances, the Suns played without forward Amare Stoudemire. He sprained his ankle again Sunday night against Portland. Forward Antonio McDyess is on the injured list because of recurring knee pain. Center Scott Williams also is on the injured list, because of back spasms. Still, Phoenix outrebounded the Lakers, 47-40, and still it was the Suns who took the two late rebounds that might have changed the game.

The Suns’ best remaining player, Shawn Marion, missed his first eight shots, and so the Suns were vulnerable right up until they made most of the plays late in the fourth quarter. The Lakers missed three free throws in the final three minutes -- Rush one and Fisher two -- and Jake Voskuhl had two put-back layups in the final 1:24.

“That’s the game,” Rush said. “We don’t have a lot of our big guys. Still, it’s up to us to get the rebounds.”

The Lakers ran out their small lineup, starting Russell, Rush and Payton with Medvedenko and Devean George.

It didn’t work well early, when the Suns rushed to an 11-point lead, but the Lakers were nearly even by the end of the first quarter and led, 46-41, by halftime.

But, in the fourth quarter, Johnson scored 10 points and the Suns made 11 of their 18 shots. Meanwhile, George missed the last three in his 0-for-10 shooting game, and Fisher, though he scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, missed two difficult threes that would have tied the score.

“We had three options for a three-point shot and Fish cut it off because he saw they were going to foul,” Jackson said. “They didn’t get the foul and he got the shot.... I have to give him the green light to do that.”

George has not played well since the injuries struck down the Lakers’ top players.

“It can’t get much worse than that, at least offensively,” Jackson said. “Let’s hope he’s bottomed out.”