PHOENIX — Just when the Phoenix Suns' front line was given up as soft and hopelessly outmatched, Amare Stoudemire and his fuzzy-haired front line mate Robin Lopez turned the tables on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Stoudemire responded to his many critics by matching his career playoff high of 42 points and grabbing 11 rebounds to power the Suns past the Lakers 118-109 on Sunday night.

Now Los Angeles' lead in the Western Conference finals is 2-1 and the Suns can pull even with another victory at home Tuesday night in Game 4.

Stoudemire and the rest of the Suns owe a big debt of gratitude to Lopez, whose 7-foot presence provided some much-needed toughness and interior defense, not to mention his 20 points on 8 of 10 shooting.

"To be seven weeks off of a bulging disk and play the way he did is phenomenal for us," Steve Nash said. "They're a bigger team than we are, so it's really important that he plays to give us some size, and obviously he gives us a lot of quality, too."

Lopez also was the anchor of a zone defense that did something that the Suns couldn't do in the first two games in Los Angeles, that's slow the multitalented Lakers.

"Just in general, I needed to make sure I kept people off the boards, stepped up on defense when there is penetration, and offensively when I had the opportunity I needed to take it whether it was get the ball to somebody else or attack the rim," Lopez said.

The big second-year pro, whose twin brother Brook plays for New Jersey, had been playing this way before he was injured, but coach Alvin Gentry didn't expect him to be able to return to form quickly after being sidelined since late March.