by Paul Coro - Apr. 6, 2012 09:25 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
DENVER - The Suns have gone the past six games without having to face a superstar wing scorer without their lockdown defender, Grant Hill.
That ends Saturday, when the NBA's leading scorer, the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, visits US Airways Center with his legion of Lakers fans in tow.
The defensive duty to handle Bryant probably will fall largely to starting wings Shannon Brown and Jared Dudley and perhaps Josh Childress off the bench. Bryant averages 28.1 points and has scored 48, 36 and 32 in three previous meetings this season with the Suns.
For Brown, it will be like three years of practices with the Lakers. He guarded Bryant, who became a big brother to him off the court.
"Ain't no different in a practice than in a game," Brown said of guarding Bryant. "We went hard all the time. It's definitely a difficult task."
Dudley has drawn some past duty on Bryant but had trouble staying in front of him. He said the key is to make Bryant shoot as many jump shots as possible, something Dudley said Bryant is more apt to do on the road.
"Offensively, I have to attack because I know he likes to attack a lot," Dudley said. " On the road, he's a lot more aggressive. Hopefully, we get an early lead and try to contain him the best we can."
Morris' motor
If there has been one criticism of Markieff Morris' fine rookie year, it has been the ease in which he plays can appear like cruise control. Suns coach Alvin Gentry said he told Morris he needed to model his motor after Denver power forward Kenneth Faried, who leads all rookies in rebounds (7.1 per game) and shooting (59 percent).
"He just has to raise the intensity level a little bit," Gentry said of Morris. "He wants to. He's still in the learning process. A good example is to take a look at Faried. He plays so hard that he gets things done just from an effort standpoint.
"He plays almost every play like the last play in the game."
Hill progressing
A week after arthroscopic surgery, Hill resumed running Friday.
Hill ran 15 minutes on a treadmill for the first time since the scope. He also did his first spot-shooting on the floor after doing his first shooting since the surgery on Thursday with free throws.
Karl's praise
Denver coach George Karl remains president of the Steve Nash Fan Club.
"His instincts are top five in point guards in basketball," Karl said. "You're going to talk about Magic Johnson. You're going to talk about (John) Stockton. You're going to talk about Bob Cousy. The instincts of running a team and getting guys open shots and orchestrating offense, he's pretty special."
Karl also commended his coaching counterpart, Gentry, for the Suns' turnaround.
"Alvin has done a great job," Karl said. "Early in the year, they looked like they didn't have the puzzle put together very well. Now, they're great. Their first unit has a rhythm, a flow. Shannon Brown, who was having an ordinary year, is having a great year. Michael Redd looks like he could get votes for the Comeback Player of the Year."
Free throws
- A celebration of life will be held Saturday for Rich Howell, the Suns' equipment manager from 1988 to 2006, at 1:30 p.m. at Mountain View Lutheran Church, 11002 S. 48th Street in Ahwatukee.
- Saturday's game is "APS Green Night" with all arena electricity coming from renewable energy.
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