Teams are battling for best record in the West | From Los Angeles Times - News from Los Angeles, California and the World

By Mike Bresnahan

January 17, 2008

You again?

It's obviously not playoff time, and the bickering coaches seem to have reached an uneasy truce, but the Lakers and Phoenix Suns face each other a third time this season tonight at Staples Center. There's really not much at stake, merely first place in the Pacific Division, the top record in the Western Conference, and the head-to-head tiebreaker in case the teams meet again in the playoffs. If the Lakers win, their fanciful season continues, despite the loss of Andrew Bynum for about eight weeks, an injury considered so vital to the Lakers that long-time trainer Gary Vitti briefed reporters after Wednesday's practice with a five-foot skeleton next to him for a frame of reference.

"It's about Andrew's size at birth," Vitti quipped, pointing to the skeleton. The rivalry between the Lakers and Suns was born anew this season, just in case their back-to-back playoff series didn't cause enough tense moments. The Lakers pummeled the Suns in November, 119-98, and beat them Dec. 25, 122-115. In the first game, Suns Coach Mike D'Antoni had words for Phil Jackson after the Lakers' coach called a late timeout with the Lakers ahead by 30 points. In the second game, Bynum had a career-high 28 points, made 11 of 13 shots, had 12 rebounds and thoroughly outplayed two-time All-Star Amare Stoudemire, who had 19 points and six rebounds. Bynum's effort that afternoon was enough to prompt D'Antoni to observe, "I don't know if he's up and coming. He's there." Bynum obviously won't be in the lineup tonight, but the Lakers are hoping to regain some balance in their attack.

Kobe Bryant had a season-high 48 points in the Lakers' 123-121 overtime victory Monday against Seattle, although he needed 44 shots to get there. Jackson addressed the team about it Wednesday. "He had some teammates who came out shy," Jackson said. "If you really give Kobe the latitude and you're bashful about shooting the ball, he's going to take up all the rest of the shots." Lamar Odom, one of those who deferred to Bryant with regularity in Monday's game, acknowledged the need to increase his assertiveness. "I'll probably have to shoot the ball, be a little bit more aggressive on offense and pick up the scoring," he said.

Meanwhile, the Lakers (26-11) would clinch a tiebreaker against the Suns with a victory tonight. They also woke up Wednesday to find themselves owning the best record in the Western Conference. "I think it's a sense of accomplishment from where we came," Bryant said. "That being said, it's still early in the season." Vitti, in his 24th season as the Lakers' trainer, offered his insight into Bynum's injury. Bynum was diagnosed Monday with a bone bruise in his left knee and a subluxation of his left kneecap -- a brief dislocation that popped back into place. "When you see a player go down the way he did, with the torque that he put on his knee, usually the first thing you think of is an anterior cruciate ligament damage," he said. "Andrew has some predisposing factors skeletally if you see him -- a little bit knock-kneed, wide pelvis -- [that] makes him prone to this type of thing.