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Green, Thomas fuel Suns to win over Lakers

Nov 5, 2014 - 6:41 AM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Gerald Green and Isaiah Thomas combined to score 48 of the Suns' 53 bench points and Phoenix defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 112-106 on Tuesday night.

Green netted 26 on 11-of-19 shooting and the Suns' leading scorer, Thomas, deposited 22 to go with nine assists for Phoenix, which moved to 3-1 on the young season with a five-game home stand upcoming.

Markieff Morris had 23 points and 10 rebounds and Goran Dragic added 16 points and seven boards in the triumph.

Kobe Bryant poured in 39 points to go with nine rebounds, but was just 14- of-37 from the floor for the Lakers, who have dropped their first five games and are off to their worst start in Los Angeles history.

"Kobe battled all night long. He wanted to finish it out. He plays every game like it's his last game," Los Angeles coach Byron Scott said.

The 1957 Minneapolis Lakers had the worst start in franchise history, losing their first seven.

Bryant, who had 14 points on 6-of-13 efficiency in the fourth quarter, nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to cut the Lakers deficit to 106-104 with 1:07 left.

Eric Bledsoe made two free throws at the other end. After Bryant was unable to get his fadeaway bank shot to drop, P.J. Tucker iced the victory with a triple from the right corner following crisp ball movement along the perimeter for a 111-104 advantage with 19.9 seconds remaining.

"Kobe made some big plays at the end, but we were able to pull it out. Our bench did a great job," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

The Lakers never led in the fourth.

Earlier, the Suns carried a 26-24 edge into the second and a Green triple preceded Thomas' driving layup to cap a 7-0 spurt to put the Suns up 38-32 with 4:34 to go in the second.

Phoenix led 58-46 at the break, built the lead to as high as 15 in the third and entered the fourth with a 79-75 margin.

Game Notes

Marcus Morris posted 12 points and six rebounds for the Suns ... Jordan Hill tallied 15 points and 15 boards for Los Angeles ... Bryant was 8-of-24 from the field in the first three quarters ... The Suns recorded 28 assists on their 41 made field goals.