SUNS RISE UP ON LAKERS WEARY L.A. UNAMAZED BY FIRST LOSS PHOENIX 95, LAKERS 83.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

PHOENIX - Twenty-four hours before the loss that waylaid the Lakers' happy little November streak, the sage veteran read the warning signs and winced. Overtime game. Road game. Back-to-back games. Yeah, you could see trouble coming from two states, a time change and a late flight away.

From the moment the Lakers squandered a lead and forced themselves to play overtime in Houston on Thursday night, they knew what was coming next. A truncated night of sleep, then a dogfight with a Phoenix Suns team desperate to define itself.

And so the Lakers suffered, almost too predictably, their first loss of the season Friday, falling 95-83 to the feisty, made-over Suns at America West Arena.

It was a game that coach Phil Jackson said was lost the night before, when the Rockets forced the Lakers to battle into the wee hours. And everyone knew it.

``We sat on the bench and we talked about that, too,'' said Rick Fox. ``With about a minute to go in (regulation), we wanted to get out and get on the road. I said to Rob (Horry), 'We've got to get out of here.' ''

But the Lakers failed to put that one away when they had the chance, and the Suns took full advantage of their weary foes. Stephon Marbury penetrated a step-slow defense time and again, breaking down the Lakers (7-1) and setting up teammates as five Suns scored in double digits. Marbury led the way with 20.

Shaquille O'Neal's 28 points and 12 rebounds weren't enough. He missed 10 of 18 free throws and late foul trouble made him a nonfactor when the Lakers needed him most. Kobe Bryant matched his worst shooting night of the season, going 5 for 15 from the field to finish with 18 points.

``It wasn't really them,'' Jackson said. ``It was the fact we didn't get the rest of our team involved. ... The Suns got a lot of guys involved and that's the difference in the ballgame.''

The Lakers got 13 points from Lindsey Hunter and 11 from Robert Horry, but the prevailing sense was this team hasn't yet settled into a steady rhythm in its offense.

That was evident in the shower of 3-point attempts the Lakers lofted in the second half, as one individual after another tried desperately to save the game with a single shot. They made just 2 of their 11 tries from beyond the arc in the half.

But it wasn't fatigue that took the Lakers out of their offense. It was the Suns' defense, and something else the Lakers are familiar with.

``A stubborn team doesn't run its offense,'' Fox said, and despite that, the Lakers led for most of the first half. ``That's the misnomer. You think you're OK. But especially on somebody's home floor, on the road, on a back-to-back early in the season, when people still have fresh legs and a lot of energy, you can't mess around like that.''

The Suns, energized by their acquisition of hyperactive Bo Outlaw earlier in the day and Dan Majerle's first game since rejoining the team, thoroughly outworked the Lakers. Phoenix won the rebounding battle 45-36. They took a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter, while the Lakers, having long ago ditched their offense, couldn't get closer than nine points in the final period.

And while all that was happening, Jackson waited it out - the first ``see-if-they-can-work-it-out-themselves game'' of the season, as Fox called it. They never did, and thus ended a regular-season winning streak at 15 games that dated back to April 3.

``We'd love to keep it going, but unfortunately that wasn't the case,'' Bryant said. ``We have a big game Sunday (against Sacramento), though, and we have to bounce back hard. ... We'll learn. This was - I don't want to say it was needed - but it's good for us. It's good for us. We have to be ready on Sunday, that's all.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Phoenix guard Stephon Marbury celebrates putting a stop to the Lakers' streak of seven consecutive victories to open the season.

(2) Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal muscles his way to the hoop between the Suns' Jake Voskuhl, right, and Penny Hardaway as Tom Gugliotta, left, looks on.

Matt York/Associated Press