Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Amare Stoudemire was 11-of-17 from the floor for 26 points to lead the Suns to a sound 118-103 defeat of their division rivals the Lakers.
Jared Dudley had 19 points and seven rebounds and Steve Nash scored 16 with 13 assists. The duo combined for six of Phoenix's 12 three-pointers.
The Suns got 14-point contributions from Goran Dragic and Channing Frye, who also added 11 rebounds for Phoenix, which had lost three of four coming off a wild 132-127 loss to Golden State on Saturday.
Phoenix won for the first time in three tries against Los Angeles this season and upped its home record to 12-2 with the resounding victory. The Suns had lost each of their earlier games to the Lakers by double digits.
Kobe Bryant poured in 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting for the Lakers, who bounced back from a loss on Christmas Day to Cleveland with a double-overtime triumph at Sacramento on Saturday.
Andrew Bynum chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds while Pau Gasol scored 13 for Los Angeles, which had claimed eight of the previous 10 matchups from Phoenix.
"They played much better than we did in a nutshell. That's all it was. They executed very well in transition, we didn't get back and it gave them a lot of easy opportunities and that broke the game open," said Bryant. "It was just execution. We just beat the (expletive) out of them the first two times and they returned the favor."
The Suns carried a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter after playing front- runner for most of the game and only added to the Lakers' deficit early in the period.
Dudley struck for a three-pointer to open play and a Leandro Barbosa basket 3 1/2 minutes in had the hosts out to a 102-84 lead.
LA seemed to concede the inevitable as Bryant went to the bench in favor of Shannon Brown with 7:50 to play and did not return. Dudley and Dragic hit from beyond the arc around a Bynum bucket moments later for a 19-point margin.
Phoenix all but put the game away with the clock rolling under four minutes left as Stoudemire converted a three-point play and Nash drilled a three- pointer for a 116-94 difference.
"Big win for us. Coming off a couple of tough losses, tonight was a big momentum change and a good confidence builder for us," said Stoudemire. "I think that tonight we were very focused."
The Suns held a slim 25-23 edge after one quarter of play and quickly moved ahead by 10, 35-25, two minutes into the second quarter when Dudley's three- point play capped a 10-2 spurt.
Bryant produced seven straight points for LA to bring the deficit down to three with a little more than two minutes left. Phoenix, though, got six points from Stoudemire inside the final 1 1/2 minutes to take a 56-50 edge into the break.
The Suns stretched their lead back to 10 straight out of the locker room and later took control with a 17-4 run that featured five three-pointers. Frye hit two from long distance during the surge and Dudley's trifecta closed it out for an 87-68 difference with two minutes remaining.
Bryant got the Lakers back to within 12, 89-77, before the close of the quarter by pouring in a quick nine points for LA. Frye stuffed Bryant's attempt at a layup just before the horn.
LA was without forward Ron Artest for a second straight game following an incident on Christmas where he fell down a set of stairs at his home and suffered a concussion and injury to his left elbow...The Lakers fell to 8-3 on the road this season...Phoenix opened a three-game residency Monday with game's against the Celtics and Grizzlies still to come...Barbosa scored 11 points and Robin Lopez tied a season high with eight points for Phoenix, which shot 48.9 percent from the field...Lamar Odom had 13 rebounds and nine points for Los Angeles, which shot 43.5 percent from the floor. Brown added 10 points off the bench for LA.