Defeat Doesn’t Suit Lakers

The Lakers lost a playoff-intensity game to the Phoenix Suns.

Then Laker Coach Rudy Tomjanovich lost his desire to talk about it.

Apparently upset with the refereeing, Tomjanovich burst from the Laker locker room into a small, crowded hallway and angrily, and briefly, faced reporters after a 107-102 loss to the Suns before 18,422 Friday at America West Arena.

“I have no comment about this,” said Tomjanovich, who had taken off his suit jacket to reveal a sweat-stained blue dress shirt. “I have no comment about the game. I’d be wasting my time.”

Tomjanovich ignored a question about the refereeing and stalked down the hallway, clutching his jacket at his side and disregarding the fact that it dragged across the floor for more than a few moments.

Players said Tomjanovich’s anger was directed not at them, but at the officiating crew of Dan Crawford, James Capers and Gary Zielinski.

Tomjanovich stormed up and down the sideline when Luke Walton was called for an over-the-back foul while taking a rebound with 37.1 seconds left to play.

The coach was also miffed earlier in the fourth quarter when Brian Cook was called for a blocking foul, leading to a three-point play for Casey Jacobsen.

Said Kobe Bryant, with more than a hint of sarcasm: “I can take a wild guess and say it was the officiating. You’d have to ask him that. Just a shot in the dark....”

The Lakers were called for 22 fouls, seven in the fourth quarter. The Suns were called for 17 fouls, five in the final quarter.

Afterward, Laker forward Lamar Odom took a look at the box score, folded it twice and dropped it behind his head into his locker. A minute earlier, guard Chucky Atkins, before leaving the locker room, offered up to nobody in particular, “Seventeen fouls? Seventeen?”

Fouls or otherwise, it was a game in which the NBA’s leading scorer couldn’t be stopped.

Bryant? He had problems with too many misses, but Amare Stoudemire, averaging a league-best 28.2 points, had no such troubles.

Stoudemire, the face of the young, unintimidated Suns, had 33 points Friday, keeping the Suns (7-2) atop the Pacific Division, looking down on the Lakers (5-5) and Sacramento Kings.

With center Chris Mihm unable to play because of stomach flu, Brian Grant was the first Laker thrown at Stoudemire. Slava Medvedenko, who had not played this season because of a bruised heel, also tried to stop Stoudemire ... for all of 2 minutes 32 seconds.

“I had a lot of fun out there,” Stoudemire said.

Bryant, meanwhile, missed his first 11 shots and his last six. His first basket came 21 seconds into the third quarter. He finished with 29 points on 10-for-33 shooting, 10 assists and 11 rebounds.

“The first half, I had good looks, I just missed them,” Bryant said. “I’m not the type to get discouraged or down or anything. I always believe the next one’s going in.”

One of the few guarantees for the Lakers 10 games into the season is that no lead is safe.

Last week, leads of 22 and 18 points were lost in two separate games, and a 33-point advantage was carved to seven in another game.

Against the Suns, a 32-15 lead early in the second quarter was practically gone by halftime, saved only by Atkins’ last-second three-pointer that kept the Lakers ahead, 47-46.

The Lakers actually whittled down a 10-point Sun lead and took a 99-98 lead on Caron Butler’s free throw with 1:02 left to play.

But the Suns scored the next seven points, three by Stoudemire, and never looked back.