Phoenix:118 Lakers:109 Series Lakers Lead 2-1. Few people outside Arizona full understood this until Sunday night, when they set aside a faltering 3-point game and attacked the basket in pulling out a 118-109 win over the Lakers. The Lakers still lead the Western Conference Finals, 2-1, with Game 4 set for Tuesday night in Phoenix Yes, this time it was the Suns who had the edge inside thanks to a wondrous game by Amare Stoudemire (42 points on 14-of-22 shooting) plus 11 rebounds. "I wanted to attack their bigs a little bit and get them into foul trouble," said Stoudemire, who'd played poorly in Games 1 and 2 in Los Angeles. Then too, the basketball world got to see the best of Robin Lopez, who gave the Suns an invaluable, second major inside weapon by hitting 8-of-10 for 20 points. Lopez, who missed seven weeks recently with back problems, hadn't been emphasized at all in the Suns' losses in Los Angeles. At the other end, Suns coach Alvin Gentry pulled a rabbit out of his coaching hat by using a zone defense to slow down the Lakers' offense, a juggernaut in Los Angeles. "It took us a long time to figure it out," the Lakers Pau Gasol said of the zone, where Lopez patrolled the middle with Stoudemire playing to the left of the hoop. The idea was to make the Lakers beat the Suns over the top while hoping the Lakers didn't shoot as well as they did in Los Angeles, Gentry said. The truth be told, "In practice (Saturday), it was the worst it's ever been. It really wasn't good <b>...</b>
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