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.

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 Lakers are a long ways away from being a championship team with the way their roster currently is constructed and Kobe Bryant knows that.

?He?s antsy,? Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers? general manager, said. ?And we recognize that we?ve got a talented and gifted guy that could get us to that level. We don?t want to waste that.?

Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are two players with value, but officials have called them untouchable.  

Attempts to acquire the Nets All-Star Jason Kidd in February reportedly failed because the Lakers refused to include Bynum.

?He?s not in our plans to trade,? Kupchak said. ?It?s one of those deals where you kind of don?t know what you have. You hate to do something too soon.?

?They?ve got some decisions to make, if they want to build a contender now, or if you want to hold onto these pieces for five years from now,? Bryant said. ?They got some tough choices.?

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.

Smush Parker met with Phil Jackson before Sunday's game to discuss his role as a reserve.

"It's too bad this is happening late in the season, but that's the way it is," Parker said. "I just asked what I could do to help the team."

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.

Phil Jackson is questioning the readiness of his team as they get ready to being their first round series versus Phoenix.

"We'll be out of this series in four games," Coach Phil Jackson said angrily in the team huddle after their Saturday practice.

"I was upset," Jackson said to the media. "I don't think they carried the right attitude in this practice. The starters weren't focusing. You can see Luke [Walton] is down here trying to get his shot back. Lamar [Odom] is still out there on the floor. We've got guys that still need to work on their game to get it tuned up. We've got to get there and we have to do it quickly."

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.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak and Coach Phil Jackson spoke to about 900 season-ticket holders Monday night at the team's annual "town-hall meeting."

One fan asked if the Lakers might be able to acquire Kevin Garnett this offseason.

Neither Kupchak nor Jackson answered it directly, citing league tampering rules, although Kupchak did eventually say that, generally speaking, "You've got to trust myself and Dr. [Jerry] Buss that we'll do everything to get a top player."

Garnett is not a free agent, but he can opt out of his contract after next season.