Paul Coro

The Republic | azcentral.com

LOS ANGELES – The once-dominant teams of the Pacific Division are relegated to each just playing out the string for a second consecutive season.

Any motivation to watch the Lakers play a fellow NBA bottom-three team Friday night was muted with late afternoon news that Kobe Bryant’s farewell tour would skip another night due to a sore shoulder.

It took a while for the Lakers to make their fans feel like battling Los Angeles traffic was worth it when they were shooting less than 30 percent well into the third quarter, but they finally looked like they valued the basketball over draft lottery ping-pong balls in the fourth quarter. After trailing by 19 points, the Lakers stormed back with chances to take the lead but missed two free throws and had an offensive goaltending call before the Suns put away a 95-90 win at Staples Center.

BOX SCORE:Suns 95, Lakers 90

The Suns have gone 5-6 since a 2-30 stretch. For those worried about the draft-lottery implications, the Lakers had a secure four-game gap entering the game, but the Suns are only a half-game behind Brooklyn for the NBA’s third- and fourth-worst records.

“We’re not trying to get ping-pong balls,” Suns rookie Devin Booker said. “We’re just trying to build and get ready for next year. That’s how important it is. Whoever we get next year, hopefully he’s ready to come in and work with us. We’re just trying to take this thing to the next level and turn it around.”

The Suns (19-50) on the court couldn't care less about that, especially after coming within three seconds of setting a franchise record low for scoring a night earlier. There was not much for the season highlight video from the game, but the Suns led by as many as 19 and staved off a fourth-quarter rally with Brandon Knight scoring nine consecutive clutch-time points.

The Lakers scored more points in the fourth quarter, 36, than they had in the first half, 32. They were spurred by sixth man Lou Williams scoring 16 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter. When he made his fourth 3-pointer with 1:39 to go, the Lakers bench cut the Suns lead to 89-88 and got the ball back after rookie Larry Nance Jr. swatted Knight’s drive.

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What seemed like a mistake Tyson Chandler loose ball foul with the Lakers in the bonus proved fortuitous as Ryan Kelly missed both free throws. When the Lakers had another chance to take the lead on the ensuing possession, Nance missed and Kelly’s tip-in was waved off for offensive goaltending, a call held up by video review with 49 seconds to go.

Knight then gave the Suns a cushion with a pull-up jump shot to cap his team-high 22 points and Williams missed the next 3-point try to send the Suns to a win.

“I like how we responded in that situation with them on a run and still finished the game out,” Suns forward P.J. Tucker said.

Chandler finished with 12 points, 17 rebounds, two blocks and two steals for his 15th double-double this season while Booker posted 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds with perfect 10-for-10 free-throw shooting.

“We told them to force their will onto the game and get to the free-throw line,” Watson said. “Devin Booker did just that.”

MORE:Booker misses Kobe but meets childhood friend

Watson said he was tough on Booker on Friday morning after Booker’s 3-for-14 shooting game in a minus-41 outing at Utah. Watson said Booker later texted an apology to him and pledged to play better.

The Suns finished Thursday night by allowing Utah, the NBA’s No. 28 scoring offense, to post a 32-point fourth quarter as the Suns flirted with an all-time record for offensive futility. They were routed 103-69 with Utah star Gordon Hayward sitting out but left that sort of effort behind in Salt Lake City with the help of the Lakers’ league-worst shooting offense.

The Suns only allowed one more point in Friday’s first half as they had allowed in Thursday’s fourth quarter.

They set the tone early, despite being on a road back-to-back set against a rested team. The Lakers missed 10 of their first 11 shots and played from behind for the remainder of the game. The Suns led after the first quarter on the road for the first time since Jan. 31 at Dallas, which was Jeff Hornacek’s last game as Suns coach.

The Suns led 47-32 at halftime for their second lowest opponent scoring total in a half this season. Only Denver fared worse with 28 points against a different Suns team on Nov. 14. For a while, the Lakers were threatening to become the only NBA team this season other than Memphis to fail to shoot 30 percent.

The Suns built their 19-point lead in the third quarter when the Lakers were shooting 25.9 percent from the field with only 15 made shots in 32 minutes of play.

“We slowed down our pace so much in Utah and put so much pressure on our defense because they were able to relax and come at us,” Chandler said. “We wore (the Lakers) down, especially in the first half. I saw their hands on their knees a lot. What it does is make them less efficient offensively.”

Reach Paul Coro atpaul.coro@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-2470. Follow him at twitter.com/paulcoro

Report

Key player: Suns center Tyson Chandler finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds, his fourth game of 17 rebounds or more this season.

Key moment: After the Lakers blew two late chances to take the lead, Brandon Knight hit a pull-up jumper to give the Suns a 91-88 lead with 30 seconds to go.

Key number:0, Lakers starters who scored in double figures

View from press row: Kobe Bryant is 37 with a sore shoulder and he probably would have shut it down for the season by now in any other season. Taking a night here and there would be more understandable if there was a playoff run or another season in his future. He entered Friday night with 14 games left in his career, felt good enough in the morning to tell Byron Scott that he thought he would play and changed his mind later. For thousands of people, Thursday night might have been the only chance they had to see Bryant play one last time and the only time they could afford to do so. They certainly are not selling out Staples Center to see the rest of the 14-55 Lakers.