The Phoenix Suns coming off of a complete annihilation of the New Orleans Hornets fly to Los Angeles to take on Kobe Bryant and his Lakers this evening. Last night’s brutal beating of the Hornets caused two major occurrences: the first being the termination of Byron Scott and more important to the Suns they were able to rest their starters for almost 2 quarters. Of course, Byron Scott being terminated was more attributed to their ineptitude in the playoffs last season vs. the Denver Nuggets and the fact they have started this season with a paltry 3-6 record. However the Suns 124-104 beat-down in which the supposedly “soft” Suns out-rebounded the Hornets 45-29 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

The Suns have now amassed an 8-1 record and have defeated tough Boston and Miami on the road to give each of the respective teams their only loss on the young season. However, tonight may be their toughest test yet heading in LA. The Suns are scoring points at a torrid pace of 112.3 points a game while the Lakers only are giving up 97.4. The Lakers have also amassed a 6-1 record mainly on the back of Kobe Bryant. Bryant has put up incredible numbers thus far scoring 33.6 points per game along with 5.7 rebounds per game.

In order to win tonight, the Suns need Jason Richardson and Grant Hill to at least contain Kobe Bryant and it will be up to the rest of the team to prevent anybody else to beat them on offense. The Suns will also need to continue making their 3’s which at times have completely demoralized competitors with their spot on accuracy. The Suns only took 9 games to make over 100 3’s for the season (an NBA record) and are shooting the 3 at an incredible 47% clip. In addition, it will be interesting to watch how Grant Hill responds on back to back nights. Hill was absolutely dismal on the tail end of the last back to back against Orlando where the Suns were defeated 122-100 (their only loss this season). Hill was 0-5 in the game and posted a -18 +- margin while only playing 19 minutes against his former team the Magic. Grant Hill did play 31 minutes last night so expect to see a little more of Jared Dudley this evening. If the Suns pull of a victory tonight, it is pretty apparent that they are going to be a legit contender for the remainder of the season.