On Sunday night, Amar’e Stoudamire scored one more point than he did in the first two games of the series.

And while Steve Nash walked away with a broken nose, the Suns walked away with one more win than that had coming into the game.

Stoudamire’s 42 points led Phoenix to a 118-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the U.S. Airways Center.

The Suns were able to keep their poise in the final quarter amid a late run by the Lakers.  L.A. actually claimed a one-point lead in the fourth, but Phoenix hit timely baskets to rebuild its lead and make free throws down the stretch.  While the Lakers were playing the ‘send-’em-to-the-free-throw-line’ game at the close of regulation, Derek Fisher tried to swipe the ball from Steve Nash.  In the process, Fisher’s head banged into Steve Nash’s nose.  Surprisingly, it was later reported that the hit broke Nash’s nose (the hit looked very uneventful, although Nash immediately grabbed at his nose after the contact).  Regardless, the All-Star point guard played through the injury and sealed the win with four free throws in the final 30 seconds of the contest.

There were a couple of big differences in Game 3 of this series.  The Suns defense did a much better job of limiting easy shots for L.A..  The Lakers shot over 57% in the first two games of this series, but tonight Phoenix held them to 48% shooting.  Los Angeles attempted 32 three-pointers, only converting on nine of them.  Phoenix incorporated a zone defense which slowed down the Lakers offense, and forced them to shoot outside of the paint.

Steve Nash suffered another broken nose...this time at the hands of Derek Fisher.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Lakers adjust to Phoenix’s primary use of the zone.  Will they give Sasha Vujacic some minutes?  L.A. has been able to play bully ball up to this point, and Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry should get a lot of credit for minimizing the Lakers’ decisive height advantage.  The Suns will more assuredly show some of that effective some defense in the next game.  But L.A. had looks that they should have knocked down, and their shooters will have to regain their confidence to come up with a Game 4 win on the road.

Despite the Lakers’ offensive struggles, Kobe Bryant had a dominant stat line - ending with 36 points, 9 rebounds and 11 assists.  This is promising for L.A., as it looks that Bryant is capable of controlling the game when he needs to.

Phoenix was also the more aggressive team.  The Suns went 37-42 from the line (Stoudamire was 14-18), while the Lakers were 16-20.  The home team took 20 threes and only hit five of them, but their attacking mentality overruled the fact that they had fewer rebounds, fewer assists and a lower field goal percentage than the Lakers.

Phoenix’s aggression and all out effort was in stark contrast to the Eastern Conference counterparts, the Orlando Magic.  Being down 2-0, the Suns realized that they had to turn up the effort.  And likewise, the coaching staff knew they had to put some wrinkles in their game plan.

Because they were able to make the needed adjustments, they’ll be playing to tie up the series at home on Tuesday night.

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