LAst Night's Action: Suns Blaze Lakers

Phoenix Suns defeat LA Lakers 118-103. Bad defense and bad shooting lost the game for the Lakers. While the Lakers overpowered the Suns in both games at the Staples Center earlier this season, the Suns defended the paint giving the Lakers’ bigs problems all night. The Suns torched the Lakers in the second half leading by as much as 22 points. While Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 34 points, Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points and six boards. The bench war was won by the Suns outscoring the Lakers’ subs 52-31. While this is the Lakers third straight mediocre game, it’s still a bit too early to panic and throw foam fingers onto the hardwood.

Minnesota Wild defeat LA Kings 4-3. With Kings players injured left and right, the Kings had fallen into a two-game losing streak. Against the Wild, things didn’t look any better for them with a forgettable second period. Drew Doughty scored a goal to tie the game 1-1 11:36 into the second period, but a power play goal by Kim Johnsson and a goal by Eric Belanger gave the Wild the 3-1 advantage. The Kings made a noble comeback in the third period tying the game at 3-3 when Scott Parse hit a wrist shot with 2:37 remaining in the game. But all that went by the wayside when the Wild’s Eric Belanger scored the winning goal for the Wild 12 seconds later. This loss sends the Kings to seventh place in the conference just weeks after they were in first place.

Notable Notes

• A state appellate court ruling on Monday paved the way for investigators to question Reggie Bush and USC head coach Pete Carroll. The lawsuit filed by wannabe sports marketer Lloyd Lake who claims to have supplied Bush and his parents gifts and money beginning in 2004 while Bush was at USC. The ruling affirmed that the lawsuit does not have to go through confidential arbitration which would make all revelations public knowledge. This is not good for the Trojans who are having their hands full with NCAA investigations with Bush and OJ Mayo, not to mention the internal investigation of Joe McKnight.
• Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady, not happy with his playing time since coming back from microfracture surgery on his right knee, is looking to be finding another home. ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, head coach Rick Adelman and McGrady’s agent Arn Tellem have agreed to pursue a trade by the NBA trading deadline on February 18. Since McGrady was traded to the Rockets from Orlando in June 2004, the Rockets only got out of the first round of the playoffs once - last year when McGrady was sitting out.
• While the Dodgers have sat on their hands all offseason the Giants look to be making a move for infielder Mark DeRosa. It looks like they’re close to agreeing on a two-year, $12 million contract. The 34-year old free agent would likely see action at third base, however he has experience at all positions except for pitcher and catcher. So what have the Dodgers done so far? Let starter Randy Wolf go off to the Brewers without offering arbitration and merely talk about getting in on the Roy Halladay sweepstakes. Yeah. This is going to be a loooooooong season.

Tonight’s Action

Golden State Warriors at LA Lakers. 7:30 pm FSWest, AM 710 KSPN.

Minnesota Wild at Anaheim Ducks. 7:00 pm FS Prime Ticket, AM 830 KLAA.

UCLA Bruins at Temple Owls. It’s the Eagle One Bank Bowl in RFK Stadium in our nation’s capitol. 1:30 pm ESPN, AM 570 KLAC.