Parker plays last quarter, has fun for a change

Smush Parker was full of pleasant surprises for the Lakers.

He was in the starting lineup Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, played almost the entire fourth quarter and finished with 25 points in the 115-107 loss.

He had averaged 4.5 points and zero fourth-quarter minutes in his last two games, but Sunday’s matchup at Staples Center provided a new breath for him.

“I haven’t been having fun as of late, and I just wanted to come out and have fun,” he said. “I had a ball. We lost, but I had fun.”

In 37 minutes, Parker had six assists, five rebounds, and stripped Steve Nash on a drive to the basket in the third quarter. Nash was promptly hit with a technical foul for complaining to the officials after the play.

Coach Phil Jackson, who found himself at odds with Parker last week after Parker questioned the coach’s substituting patterns, was complimentary.

“He had a good game,” he said. “He can play well against this team if given the opportunity.”

But there was also a moment to forget. With the Lakers trailing early in the fourth quarter, 80-77, Parker was called for charging after trying to put the ball around his back on a drive.

“We talked about mistakes in a critical part of the game, and those are poor decisions that he made,” Jackson said.

Jackson and Parker appeared to reach a truce Friday in Seattle, Jackson sitting on a large exercise ball while talking to Parker in the locker room.

“We’ve talked about investing himself in the team,” Jackson said. “He felt defensive about how the press portrayed him, said he didn’t feel like he said anything wrong or incorrect.”

Last week, Parker said he “gave up trying to read that man a long time ago,” referring to Jackson, after being benched for the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ loss last Wednesday to the Clippers.

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Kobe Bryant actually had kind words for one of his biggest adversaries.

A year ago, after a regular-season loss to Phoenix, Bryant said he had “bigger fish to fry” than Phoenix guard Raja Bell.

But Bryant was more polite Sunday when asked whether Bell was one of the league’s best defenders.

“I’ll put him up there,” he said. “He has a willingness to play defense. A lot of guys put their tails between their legs and run.”

Not all of Bryant’s words were kind, however.

“He likes to flop. I like to play physical,” Bryant said. “That’s the nature of the beast.”

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Kwame Brown is expected to miss tonight’s game against Denver and might sit out a few more games because of an injury that could require four months of recovery time during the off-season, Jackson said.

“It’ll take that long to get it stable and strong,” Jackson said.

TONIGHT

at Denver, 6, Channel 9

Site -- Pepsi Center.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 40-37, Nuggets 40-36.

Record vs. Nuggets -- 1-2.

Update -- The Nuggets, who are half a game ahead of the Lakers for sixth in the West, beat the Lakers, 111-105, last Tuesday at Staples Center.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com