Teagle’s Star Seen by Suns : Lakers: While Johnson rests, he rights ship in victory at Phoenix to finish successful trip.

PHOENIX —  They had another one of those Terry Teagle sightings Thursday night.

Outlined against a blue crowd in Veterans Memorial Coliseum, he dropped a fast 14 points in 17 minutes on the local favorites as the Lakers hit the Suns right between the eyes in the fight for second place in the Pacific, stunning them, 102-98.

The Lakers are 2 1/2 games ahead, with eight to play.

More to the point, they were 2-0 on a trip to San Antonio--where the home team was 30-6 and had won 10 in a row--and here, where the Suns were 28-7.

“I’ve always said March and April is when you get your team focused on the playoffs,” Sun Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. “The playoffs are all that counts. Does anybody remember what the Lakers did last season except for their last game?

“Certainly, the Lakers are focused in. They came up with two big-time wins in San Antonio and Phoenix, and I give them the credit for it.”

This was a trip with peril written all over it. Instead, the Lakers played two of their finest games since the All-Star break and turned themselves back around. They have won three in a row since their Black Friday loss to the Trail Blazers.

What changed?

For one thing, Teagle.

He averaged 20 points in the three games. He shot 50% or better in all three, the second time he has put three 50% shooting nights together this season. The first time was in November against the Warriors, Denver and Denver again and can’t be deemed as impressive.

Are the Lakers a different team with Teagle as explosive as once advertised?

“Oh yeah,” Magic Johnson said, smiling broadly. “A lot.

“Here it is, two good games against two good teams. We’ve been waiting on that.”

Here it was. . . .

The Lakers had grabbed a 16-point lead by the early second quarter after James Worthy put Xavier McDaniel and Kurt Rambis to the torch to the tune of 16 points, but now Johnson was resting on the bench and the Suns were storming back.

They were on a 9-0 run. The Lakers had been there before--for most of the season, in fact. Phoenix was going to draw closer, Johnson was going to have to be rushed back in, etc.

Instead, Teagle hit a turnaround 17-footer over Jeff Hornacek, isolated on the wing. Teagle followed with a dunk on a fast break the next time down and a pass out of a double-team the next that set up A.C. Green for a rebound basket. Then Teagle hit another 17-footer, despite being double-teamed. By now, the Suns were sending an extra defender at him every time he touched the ball.

He had 10 points by halftime and the Lakers had a 13-point lead, which was fortunate for them because they would need every point.

“I’m more settled,” Teagle said. “I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just going out and playing. Not thinking about the shots I miss. My game is beginning to settle down.

“It’s been a weird season for me. It’s been very weird. At Golden State, we would just go out and play. Here, some nights you get 15 shots, some nights you get five. The big thing is winning, so I accept that.”

Predictably, the Suns played better in the second half. The Lakers managed to take a 78-72 lead into the fourth quarter. The Suns cut it to 80-77 until Teagle hit a running eight-footer.

The Lakers ran it back up to 97-86 with 3:11 left but missed enough free throws to let Phoenix back in one last time. Trailing 98-94, Kevin Johnson drove desperately, turned the ball over and there went your second-place race in the West.

Lakers Notes

In games among the Lakers, Trail Blazers and Suns, the home team is 5-7. . . . Magic Johnson, averaging 25 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, with three triple-doubles in five games since resting his sore knees, took only five shots and scored 10 points--with 14 assists and nine rebounds. . . . Sam Perkins had his first double-figure rebound game since his return from a broken toe March 3. . . . The Lakers still trail Portland by 2 1/2 games and aren’t talking much about catching the Trail Blazers. “All we want to do is ride this on into the playoffs,” Johnson said. “Just keep going like this.”