Superstar Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are starting to fade at the wrong time.

Bryant will once again try to get the Lakers out of their recent funk when they visit the Phoenix Suns on Friday. The reigning scoring champion, Bryant notched his ninth contest with at least 50 points in Thursday’s 118-110 setback to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Losses are part of the game.  You have to (pick) it up,” Bryant said. “It’s going to happen.  You are going to have disheartening losses.”

The Lakers (40-39) now hold just a 1 1/2-game lead for seventh place in the Western Conference standings over the Clippers (38-40) and Golden State (38-40) with just three games remaining.

Meanwhile, Phoenix (59-19) enters with the hopes of locking up second place in the West as it has a two-game edge over the San Antonio Spurs (57-21).

“I think each one we win we just widen that gap up, but at the same time the Spurs are right on our heels,” Suns forward Shawn Marion said.

On Wednesday, Marion and fellow All-Star Amare Stoudemire both recorded double-doubles as the Suns won for the sixth time in seven games with a 109-91 victory over Seattle.

Just six days ago, two-time MVP Steve Nash’s 25 points and 11 assist led Phoenix to a 115-107 triumph over the Lakers, who were paced by Bryant’s 34 points.

The Suns and Lakers could open the postseason against each other in what would be a rematch of last season’s first-round matchup in which Phoenix rallied from 3-1 deficit to win in seven games.

These teams played Sunday at Staples Center, with the Suns recording a 115-107 victory. Steve Nash had a team-high 25 points and 11 assists as Phoenix won for the second time in three meetings with the Lakers this season.

Bryant, who scored 34 points in that loss, is coming off a 50-point game but it wasn’t enough as the Lakers fell to the Clippers 118-110 on Thursday. The defeat was the third straight for Los Angeles and its seventh in nine games.

Bryant played all 48 minutes against the Lakers’ city rival, shooting 17 of 33 from the floor and making all 15 of his free throws. But he was held scoreless after making two foul shots to give Los Angeles a 102-92 lead with 8:46 remaining and the Clippers ended the game on a 26-8 run.

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“I felt fine physically. I felt like I could go the distance,” said Bryant, who missed his last six field goal attempts. “I didn’t feel like my legs were heavy. I didn’t feel tired at all. They just double-teamed me and triple-teamed me. You’ve got the advantage when that happens. But we didn’t make the plays and they did.”

The nine-time All-Star has nine 50-point games this season, the most since Wilt Chamberlain also had nine in 1964-65.

Bryant, who leads the league with 31.5 points per games, has totaled 65 in two games against the Suns this season.

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Phoenix has won five straight over the Lakers at US Airways Center, outscoring them by an average of 12.0 points in those games. Overall, the Suns have won six straight home games overall, and 12 of their last 13 there.

Amare Stoudemire had 18 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday’s win over the SuperSonics, and has 36 points and 20 rebounds in the two wins over Los Angeles this season.

Marion is averaging 13.7 points and 8.7 rebounds in three games against the Lakers this season, while Nash is averaging 21.0 points and 11.3 assists.

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