Suns can't compete with West's best

Terry Porter never had to wait on late TNT starts when he was the Milwaukee Bucks' coach.

The cable network treated the Bucks as if they were lepers. A nationally televised game? Only if the Bucks bribed the executive producer.

Thursday, Porter got his first taste of the big time as an NBA coach. TNT was in town. So was Kobe, Phil and media from all over the country.

So what can we make of the Suns' 105-92 loss?

Well, for one thing, they're not in the Lakers' league.

Los Angeles dominated even though Kobe Bryant had an off night shooting - he was 8 of 23 from the field - and scored a benign 24 points.

Also, it's become obvious that Phoenix will have trouble scoring against good teams. The Suns shot 44.2 percent from the field against Los Angeles and never got into a flow offensively.

As we've mentioned before, the Suns have to find a way to get Steve Nash more involved in the offense. Nash didn't score a single point in the first half - he only took three shots - and he wound up with eight points.

I know Porter wants to get Shaquille O'Neal and Amaré Stoudemire more touches, but it can't be at the expense of Nash, who's the team's best shooter.

Also, the Suns - and how long have we been saying this - need to find a veteran backup point guard. Second-round draft choice Goran Dragic was supposed to fill that role, but his minutes Thursday were taken by rookie Sean Singletary. And when Singletary replaced Nash in the first quarter, the Lakers immediately went on a 14-0 run.

If there was one guarantee Thursday, it's that O'Neal would play well. Kobe was in the building and he wasn't going to let a young pup like Andrew Bynum show him up.

Sure enough, O'Neal dominated inside, collecting 15 points and nine rebounds and forcing Bynum to bench in the third quarter with foul trouble.

"I think Shaq is always giving out lessons to the young guys," Porter said. "He'll send signals: ‘I'm still here. I'm not gone yet.' "

The Suns would like to think the same goes for their entire team.

But after Thursday, they'll have a hard time convincing anyone else of that.

Scott Bordow is a sports columnist for the East Valley Tribune, the Daily News-Sun's sister newspaper in Mesa. He may be reached at 480-898-6598 or via e-mail at sbordow@evtrib.com.