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Division rivals square off as Lakers visit Suns

Nov 20, 2008 - 11:22 AM LA Lakers (8-1) at Phoenix (8-4), 10:30 p.m. EST

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- For three seasons, the Pacific Division belonged to the Phoenix Suns. Over the last year or so, the Los Angeles Lakers have stormed back to wrestle control away.

Now the team to beat in the division, the conference and perhaps even the league, the Lakers will head to the desert to take on the Phoenix Suns on Thursday.

For the Lakers, the start to the 2008-09 campaign has been largely dominant. They have cruised through most of the competition with the kind of ease that the league saw from last year's Boston Celtics. Los Angeles opened the campaign with seven straight wins before finally falling last Friday to the Detroit Pistons.

The scary thing is the team's superstars haven't had to dominate - at least not yet. Kobe Bryant has only reached the 30-point threshold once. Yet, the Lakers are still one of the three highest-scoring teams in the league. The secret, this year at least, has been balance.

Bryant, who typically plays about 40 minutes a game, is averaging less than 35 minutes per contest this time around. Eight Laker players are playing at least 20 minutes per contest.

The Suns are in a transition year - from Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun attack to new head coach Terry Porter's slowed-down, defense-focused system. Still, they remain a threat - if not as consistent a threat as in years past.

In their visit to Salt Lake City on Monday to an injury-riddled Utah Jazz squad without star point guard Deron Williams and All-Star center Mehmet Okur, the Suns were pushed around and dominated in the paint en route to a 109-97 loss.

Amare Stoudemire leads Phoenix with 23.3 points and 8.3 boards per game while shooting 58 percent from the field.