Lakers Bounce Back, Beat the Suns, 109-104

They were painting “Lakers” on a Ping-Pong ball.

Losers of eight of 13 at home, trailing by 16 points, the Lakers were looking right into the lottery bowl Sunday night when they staged another in a series of improbable rallies and beat the Phoenix Suns, 109-104.

The Lakers gained a half-game on idle Houston and lead the Rockets by 1 1/2.

“I have to give (Laker Coach) Mike Dunleavy a lot of credit,” Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said.

“This was a game we could have won, should have won but did not win.

“Cut the head off a snake and the snake doesn’t necessarily die. Not when it’s been a fighter and a battler.”

After the Suns took a 16-point lead during the second quarter, Dunleavy, who had berated his team after Friday’s loss to the Seattle SuperSonics, did so again at halftime.

This time, it worked.

Said Dunleavy: “Sometimes it’s hard to figure people out.”

Vlade Divac, who finished with 30 points, and Byron Scott, who had 25, led a 52-25 Laker rally that lasted the entire third quarter and half of the fourth.

When it was over, the Lakers were ahead, 95-82.

After that, they held the Suns off--barely.

The Lakers were coming off heir eighth home defeat in 13 games, after which Dunleavy displayed his displeasure.

“I think (assistant coach) Randy Pfund was madder than he was,” Scott said before the game. “Randy was the one throwing his clipboard around.”

The Suns were coming off of a 113-94 loss to the Utah Jazz, which had lost to the SuperSonics in its previous game and was about to lose to the Minnesota Timberwolves in its next one.

“I’ve always wanted a team like the Lakers,” Fitzsimmons said before the game. “I want to have an exciting team that plays full-throttle all the time. I want a team that’s classy. All we’ve done is talk about it. We’ve never really done it.

“I’m not disappointed. I’m not depressed. I’m just stating a fact.”

If he wanted to see depression, however, all he had to do was keep his eyes open because the Lakers were acting it out.

They shot 41% during the first quarter.

Then they went cold.

With Sedale Threatt resting, the second unit somehow misplaced Terry Teagle, its one true threat, despite the fact Teagle had made his all-important first shot. The Lakers were within 26-24 after one quarter, but the Suns went on a 27-13 run and opened the 16-point lead.

And then came the second half.

Dunleavy made one defensive switch, moving Elden Campbell onto Tom Chambers, so he could pick up Kevin Johnson on the Suns’ pick-and-rolls. Campbell’s quickness contained Johnson, and the Suns’ offense wilted.

Divac and Scott combined to score the Lakers’ first 26 points of the third quarter. Teagle then scored the last six points of the third quarter and 12 more in the fourth.

Said Dunleavy: “We came out with the idea of taking no prisoners.”

Their fans were impressed. Fitzsimmons was either depressed or gaining on it.