Picture Gallery (LAT)

May 23 - Phoenix. Kobe Bryant had 36 points, 9 rebounds and 11 assists but it didn't matter because nobody could stop Amare Stoudemire who led the Suns to a 118-109 win at Phoenix to give life to this Western Conference Finals.

Kobe's almost triple double wasn't enough mainly because what was the Lakers strength in the first two games was their weakness in game 3: the interior game. Andrew Bynum, playing with physical limitations got into early foul trouble and played just 8 minutes. Lamar Odom had one of those games, was ineffective and was fouled out and Pau Gasol who ended with 23 points and 9 rebounds had to deal with an unstoppable Stoudemire who finally appeared for the Suns with 42 points and 11 rebounds and center Robin Lopez who did a good job and added h 20 points and strong defense.

And defense was the key of the game for the Suns. They started absurdly defending Kobe one-on-one and he was making almost ever shot going 7-for-9 in the first quarter for 15 points. But then they switched to zone defense, it really worked and they used it the rest of the way. The Lakers couldn't throw the ball inside as much as they would have wanted and settled for 3-pointers, attempting 32 of them and making just 9. The Suns keep struggling with their long distance shots, but they were so aggressive attacking the basket that got 42 free throws (made 37) while the Lakers only went to the line 20 times.

Phil Jackson said he will consider not playing Bynum in game 4 to give his knee some rest.