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  Thursday, Oct. 26 10:30pm ET
Los Angeles 98, Phoenix 84
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

PHOENIX (AP) _ In their final tuneup before opening defense of the NBA title, the Los Angeles Lakers turned to a pair of familiar names Thursday night in a 98-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points and Shaquille O'Neal added 19 in the Lakers' only decisive victory of the preseason.

Los Angeles, 3-5 in exhibition play, led by 20 points at the end of the first quarter and by 26 with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the second.

The Suns, who finished the preseason 4-4, cut the lead to nine early in the third quarter, but the Lakers pulled away again.

Ron Harper scored 11 points, and Horace Grant had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles.

Tony Delk scored 21 off the bench to lead Phoenix. Shawn Marion added 10 but was just 3-for-13 from the field as the Suns shot 36 percent. Rodney Rogers was 0-for-9 for Phoenix.

After being down 56-39 at the half, the Suns went on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 63-54 on Jason Kidd's fast-break basket with 6:36 left in the third quarter.

But Harper's three-point play ignited a 14-3 surge that put Los Angeles on top 77-57 on Devean George's 3-pointer with 2:39 to go in the quarter.

Phoenix was just 6-for-25 (24 percent) in the first quarter, compared with 14-for-21 (67 percent) for Los Angeles.

O'Neal's inside basket with 5:33 left in the first half gave the Lakers their largest lead, 48-22. The Lakers' starters outscored the Suns' starters 42-9 in the first half, with O'Neal and Bryant scoring 15 apiece.

The Lakers' Isaiah Rider was called for a technical foul for shoving Phoenix's 7-foot-2 rookie Jake Tsakalidis with 10 1/2 minutes to play in the game. The shove came after Tsakalidis was called for a flagrant foul for flattening Los Angeles' 6-foot Tyronn Lue.

Both teams open their regular season next Tuesday, the Lakers at Portland and Phoenix at Golden State.

 


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RECAPS
Utah 104
Dallas 87

Minnesota 88
Detroit 81

Indiana 106
Chicago 103

LA Lakers 98
Phoenix 84

Portland 105
Denver 87