LOS ANGELES - Amaré Stoudemire knew Kobe Bryant had scored 48 points in Monday’s overtime win over Seattle, but he didn’t know Bryant took 44 shots in the game.

Barbosa, Marion lead Suns past Lakers, 106-98

Read Jerry Brown's Blog, Rim Shots

“That’s unbelievable, taking 44 shots. Are you serious?” Stoudemire said after Wednesday’s practice. “If I ever took 44 shots, you can put me down for 70 (points).”

But by Thursday, Stoudemire had revised his prediction. “Make that 80 points,” he said with a smile. “If I’m shooting that much, I’m on, so I’m going to hit 30 (field goals). So with the free throws, I could be good for 80.”

Maybe he’s right. The most shots Stoudemire has ever taken in a game is 27. He hit 20 of them (74 percent), going for a career-high 50 points against Portland (Jan. 2, 2005). At that same pace, he would have gone 33-for-44 that night, giving him 66 points before free throws.

A HILL TO CLIMB

The Suns went into Thursday 2-2 in the four games Grant Hill has missed since his Jan. 9 appendectomy. The team misses him most during Steve Nash’s rest breaks — it was most evident against the Clippers when a seven-point lead became an eight-point deficit with Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw both struggling.

“He’s made us a better team than we were last year, so when you take him off, we’re worse because we don’t have him, James Jones or Kurt (Thomas),” D’Antoni said. “You can see how important he is in spreading the floor and moving the ball. And defensively, he’s a guy at 6-8 you can put on Sam (Cassell).

“The last four or five games (before Hill went down) I thought that second group was really coming on. We were staying even or expanding leads and it was looking good. Without Grant, we’re searching a little again.”

Things were better Thursday. The Suns had an 11-point lead when Nash left and despite a poor last three minutes of the third quarter, they restored the lead to 10 by the time he returned.

Hill took part in Thursday’s morning walk-through. He will miss the two-game homestand against Minnesota (tonight) and New Jersey (Sunday) but is on pace to return to practice Saturday. Barring any setbacks, he could return as early as next Tuesday in Milwaukee.

WHO’S IN YOUR FIVE?

USA Today is selecting the five greatest players from each NBA franchise during the season, and the Suns’ results were released Thursday. A panel of experts including Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay and former NBA coach Dwane Casey selected Steve Nash, Charles Barkley, Walter Davis, Kevin Johnson and Connie Hawkins as the top five all-time Suns. A reader’s vote had the same five players picked, while Suns broadcaster Eddie Johnson had Alvan Adams in place of Hawkins on his team.

SHARE THE WEALTH

As part of his message to Bryant to resist the temptation to monopolize the ball now that Andrew Bynum (kneecap) is gone for two months, Lakers coach Phil Jackson made it part of his mantra when discussing the defensive game plan on Nash.

“We have to make (Nash) work hard on the defensive end, but he’s not the only one,” Jackson said. “This is a team whose best defender (Raja Bell) is the guy whose on Kobe while our best offensive player (Bryant) is matched up against theirs (Nash). So there has to be a little give and take where good shots are taken.”

BONUS SHOTS

In the first seven games of January, the Suns averaged 11.3 made 3-pointers and were hitting 42 percent from behind the arc. In the first two months, the Suns made only 8.3 a game and shot 37 percent. ... Diaw wore a microphone Thursday night, and said it was one game too late. If I had it on Tuesday (when he was hit with his first technical foul of the season) we could have played it back so you could see I didn’t deserve one,” he said.

SUNS SPOTS

Did you see that? As expected. Coach Mike D’Antoni benched guard Marcus Banks and shortened his rotation to seven players – even with Amaré Stoudemire battling foul trouble. Six Suns reached double figures and accounted for all the scoring.

Player of the game: After a poor effort against the Clippers, Boris Diaw rebounded in a big way, hitting his first six shots from the floor and finishing with 19 points – including the game-icing jumper with 24 seconds left – six rebounds and five assists.

Unsung hero: Shawn Marion put forth a strong effort and was the recipient of the Suns’ renewed commitment to running with 20 points and 16 rebounds.

Thumbs up: Steve Nash shot poorly and had only 13 points, but he got all his teammates involved with a season-high 20 assists and drove the team home down the stretch with strong floor generalship.

Thumbs down: Maybe the Lakers will let Kobe Bryant shoot a little more next game. He had 30 points, but when he wasn’t providing the offense, the rest of the Lakers faltered.

Timberwolves at Suns

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: US Airways Center

TV: FSN Arizona

Radio: KTAR (620 AM)

Records: T-Wolves 5-32; Suns 27-12

Series history: The Suns lead the all-time series 46-24 (26-10 in Phoenix) and have won nine of the last 11 games. But Minnesota has the only win this season stunning Phoenix 100-93 on Dec. 8 in Minneapolis behind 32 points and 20 rebounds by Al Jefferson – the only 30-20 effort not turned in by Kevin Garnett in Minnesota history.

Scouting report: T-Wolves – Minnesota lost its third straight game (at Golden State) on Tuesday, and hasn’t stopped a losing streak until it reached at least five games all year (three five-game losing streaks, one six-gamer and one eight-gamer). Since beating the Suns, Minnesota is 2-17 with wins over Indiana and Miami. Randy Foye (kneecap) has been out all season. Jefferson is one of five NBA players averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds this season. The T-Wolves are a woeful 1-18 on the road — with the only win coming Nov. 26 at New Orleans.