When he scored a season-high 21 points against the Bucks on Saturday – to go with 10 rebounds – Boris Diaw was attacking the basket for layups and dunks. Thursday against the Lakers – on the heels of a 3-for-8, one rebound, one technical performance against the Clippers that had coaches and teammates rolling their eyes – Diaw was back on the beam with 19 points on 9-for-13 shooting in the 106-98 win, hitting eight of the shots from the outside including one 3-pointer. His 20-footer with 24 seconds was the final dagger to the Lakers’ fourth quarter comeback bid. “If he can become consistent with that shot, he’s a big problem for people,” said Suns guard Steve Nash, who kept feeding Diaw the ball when the Lakers gave him the open jumper. “Even without making jumps shots, he can still have a huge impact on every game just by being aggressive.” Of course, Diaw said he was just doing what the situation called for – making the right play. Against the Bucks, he found himself on smaller defenders due to pick-and-roll switched, so he drove. Thursday, the middle was clogged, a bigger defender sloughed off, so Diaw let the jumper fly. Perhaps he had a little leftover aggression after doing so little against the Clippers. Perhaps wearing the TNT microphone made him want to do something worth talking about. But in the space of five days, Diaw has had two games the Suns have been waiting for all year. He had six turnovers, but they were aggressive turnovers. He had six rebounds, which the Suns will take and five assists. “I was left open a lot,” Diaw said. “There were a lot of jumpers. I can’t drive anyway (with the middle congested). As long as you’re open if you don’t take them it’s not good for the team anyway. It makes it easier to make them when you make a few.

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