Lakers at Suns
Kobe Bryant was rusty in his first game back from injury and he won’t have much time to rest between games as the Los Angeles Lakers visit the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday. Bryant scored 19 points in 29 minutes in Tuesday’s season-opening loss to the Houston Rockets but was just 6-of-17 from the field. New coach Byron Scott has repeatedly said Bryant’s minutes will be reduced on the second night of a back-to-back and this will be the first test of that edict.
Phoenix won 48 games last season and fell one game shy of a playoff spot and now has its sights on a 50-win campaign. The multiple point-guard duo of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe was a colossal hit ,with the only downer being that Bledsoe was limited to 43 games due to injuries, and the Suns added another point guard in Isaiah Thomas in the offseason. Forward Markieff Morris was superb off the bench last season and the 25-year-old will get the chance to start this season.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, TWC SportsNet (Los Angeles), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (0-1): Los Angeles was counting on rookie forward Julius Randle to make an impact but the first-round pick broke his right leg in the loss to Houston. Randle was driving toward the hoop when he suffered the injury and he was in intense pain as medical support people tried to put an air cast on the leg and move him on to a stretcher. “Naturally, we’re all thinking of Julius and his well-being,” Scott told reporters. “First game of the season, a young promising player who unfortunately gets an injury.”
ABOUT THE SUNS (2013-14: 48-34): Bledsoe considered leaving as a free agent before re-signing with Phoenix for $70 million over five years. “I’m looking to prove people wrong,” Bledsoe told reporters. “We won 48 games last year and I want to win 50.” Bledsoe was considered a pass-first player with the Los Angeles Clippers before the Suns acquired him, and he proved he could score by averaging 17.7 points in his first season with Phoenix.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Phoenix has recorded six consecutive home wins against the Lakers.
2. Lakers PF Carlos Boozer had 17 points versus Houston and was the only player besides Bryant to reach double digits.
3. Suns F P.J. Tucker is serving a three-game suspension stemming from a DUI arrest.