Steve Nash had 23 assists and Amare Stoudemire finished with 27 points and 21 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns cruised to a 113-100 victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 31 points and 9 assists, while Lamar Odom had 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Phoenix now leads the series 3-1 and have an opportunity to close it out at home on Wednesday.

Marc Iavaroni, assistant coach of the Suns, is expected to become a head coach this offseason.

Iavaroni said if Phoenix has a break between playoff series and a team asks for an interview, he?ll do so. Five teams currently have openings: Charlotte, Indiana, Memphis, Sacramento and Seattle.

Iavaroni stressed, however, he has not been contacted by any team. He said his agent is talking to GMs and relaying the information to him.

?My goal as an assistant coach was to help a head coach get a championship,? Iavaroni said. ?That?s the way I want to leave.?

The Lakers are back in their series against the Suns thanks to another big game from Kobe Bryant and, believe it or not, Kwame Brown.

After falling behind by 17 points in the first quarter and drawing boos from the home crowd, the Lakers battled back and beat the Suns 95-89 Thursday night to cut Phoenix's lead to 2-1 in the first-round playoff series.

Bryant scored 15 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter, and had six rebounds and six assists. Brown added a career playoff-high 19 points and Lamar Odom had 18 points and 16 rebounds. Brown scored a total of 11 points in the first two games.

The Suns revved up their frenetic style to near perfection on Tuesday night in a 126-98 rout of the Lakers that put Phoenix up 2-0 in the best-of-seven first-round series.

The Suns had lost five consecutive playoff Game 2s, including one at home against the Lakers a year ago. But it was apparent early that this would be no replay. Phoenix led by 21 in the second quarter and 28 in the third.

Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns has been named  the winner of the 2006-07 NBA Sixth Man Award, honoring the league?s top player in a reserve role, the NBA announced today.

Barbosa received 578 out of a possible 635 points, including 101 of a possible 127 first-place votes, from a panel of 127 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs finished second with 269 points and Jerry Stackhouse of the Dallas Mavericks placed third with 210 points.

The fourth year guard from Brazil becomes the fourth Suns player to win NBA Sixth  Man honors, joining Eddie Johnson (1988-89), Danny Manning (1997-98) and  Rodney  Rogers  (1999-00). Since the award?s inception in 1982-83, the Boston  Celtics  are  the only other franchise to have had a winner on even three  separate  occasions  ?  Kevin  McHale (1983-84 and 1984-85) and Bill Walton (1985-86).

For a long time Sunday, the Suns couldn't make a shot and Kobe Bryant couldn't miss.

Then Leandro Barbosa, the "Brazilian Blur", brought the NBA's highest-scoring offense to life, and Bryant went from awesome to awful.

The result was a second-half rally that gave the Suns a 95-87 victory over the Lakers in their first-round Western Conference playoff opener.

"They did everything in the book to give this game away," Lakers guard Smush Parker said, "and we didn't take advantage of it."

Barbosa showed why he is a leading candidate for the NBA's sixth man award. The guard scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half, including 15 consecutive Phoenix points in one stretch, to match his career playoff scoring high.

Suns coach Mike D'Antoni continued answering questions Saturday about Jack McCallum's book :07 Seconds or Less.

The Los Angeles Times printed unflattering excerpts about the Lakers earlier this week. About Lamar Odom's defensive talents and Kobe Bryant's attitude and decision making.

Needless to say, the Lakers weren't thrilled.

?It's four guys hungover with basketball in a room, BS-ing,'' D'Antoni said of the Suns coaching staff. ?That's the essence of the book, what happens behind closed doors. If they think we're going, ?Oh, gosh, what are we going to do? We can't guard this guy because he's so great.' We're not going to do that. We're going to have a swagger within ourselves.''

A book by Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum called ":07 Seconds or Less," includes several scenes in which Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and the Lakers in general are panned by the Suns.

"As the Suns see it, the Lakers trek along the low road," McCallum wrote. "Bryant is arrogant. [Kwame] Brown is just a big body with nothing behind it. Smush Parker was a Sun for a couple of weeks [in 2004-05] and no one rued his departure. Lamar Odom is just too damn big and long. Luke Walton seems like a nice guy ? but he laid out [Tim] Thomas in Game 3 and triggered a miserable chain of events [for the Suns]. Sasha Vujacic is an all-universe whiner with an unpronounceable surname. Plus, Phil Jackson sits on a throne."

The book was released in the fall.

The game meant virtually nothing to the Suns and everything to the Clippers.

Regardless, there was no rest for the Suns' regulars, and still the Clippers managed a 103-99 victory Tuesday night that kept their playoff hopes alive with one game to play.

Elton Brand scored 21 points to lead six Clippers in double figures and Los Angeles beat the Suns 103-99.

Tracy McGrady wasn't afraid to exaggerate the magnitude of the Rockets' 120-117 victory over the Suns on Monday night.

McGrady scored 39 points as the Rockets won their fifth straight and clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.