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Suns welcome Kobe, Lakers to Phoenix

Oct 29, 2014 - 2:04 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Phoenix Suns will get their NBA party started Wednesday when they welcome Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to US Airways Center.

The Suns went 48-34 last season and missed out on a postseason spot for the fourth straight campaign. They have a chance to increase that number in 2014-15 with a steady crop of players returning under second-year head coach Jeff Hornacek.

Goran Dragic, last season's Most Improved Player, led the Suns with 20.3 points and 5.9 assists, and is perhaps the top player on the roster. Eric Bledsoe, Miles Plumlee, Gerald Green and both Markieff and Marcus Morris are the other key contributors.

Dragic became first Suns player since Stephon Marbury in 2003-04 to average at least 20 points and five assists in a season. Bledsoe averaged a career-best 17.7 points in 43 games last season and needs to play at full strength.

Phoenix, which went 5-2 in the preseason, will have to battle the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors for bragging rights in the Pacific Division, and could finish with a fifth or sixth seed in the playoffs.

The Suns won their opener last season after losing the previous three. They were first in the NBA in 2013-14 in fast break points (18.7) and 20-0 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

The Lakers got their season off to a poor start in Tuesday's 108-90 loss to the Houston Rockets. Bryant played just six games last season after starting the campaign recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon. He then hurt his left knee and was shut down for the season.

The 36-year-old future Hall of Famer began his 19th season Tuesday night with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting. First-year Laker Carlos Boozer scored 17 points and Ed Davis rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points.

LA received bad news when rookie forward Julius Randle suffered a broken right leg midway through the fourth quarter.

"It's heartbreaking," Lakers new head coach Byron Scott said. "It's his first game and he goes down. We're thin already."

Randle, the seventh overall pick in this summer's draft, was 1-for-3 from the floor for two points in 13 1/2 minutes.

"Not much we can do about it right now except just try to keep his spirits up," Bryant said.

The Lakers won't have much time to think about it with a back-to-back Wednesday night against the Suns, who won three of four meetings with the Lakers last season. The Lakers are winless in the last six trips to Phoenix.