Lakers @ Suns Playoff thread - Sunday April 22, 2007 -12:00 pm
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Everything played out like how i thought it would. I said the Lakers can dominate the Suns in the paint. If the Laker guards remain patient,the Lakers can win this series.
Kobe lost his patience when it was not even necessary.
1. End of 3rd quarter up by 6 Kobe takes a long 30 footer. Lakers get a stop and instead of letting the shot clock run down to 2 or 3 seconds,Kobe attacks with 7 on the shot clock and gets called for a charge. That led to Barbosa's 3. That was Horrible clock management.
2. When Kobe's jumper cooled off,he should have kept feeding Lamar down low. Lamar had 17 points and 16 rebounds,and Marion has no hope guarding him in the post. Kobe should have recognizd that when the jumper cooled off.
Kobe's unecessary long jumpers led to the Suns getting out and running. Had he kept feeding Lamar down low when the jumper cooled off,the game does not get away like that. Post up Lamar late 3rd and 4th quarter and Lakers win that game.
Kobe lost his patience when it was not even necessary.
1. End of 3rd quarter up by 6 Kobe takes a long 30 footer. Lakers get a stop and instead of letting the shot clock run down to 2 or 3 seconds,Kobe attacks with 7 on the shot clock and gets called for a charge. That led to Barbosa's 3. That was Horrible clock management.
2. When Kobe's jumper cooled off,he should have kept feeding Lamar down low. Lamar had 17 points and 16 rebounds,and Marion has no hope guarding him in the post. Kobe should have recognizd that when the jumper cooled off.
Kobe's unecessary long jumpers led to the Suns getting out and running. Had he kept feeding Lamar down low when the jumper cooled off,the game does not get away like that. Post up Lamar late 3rd and 4th quarter and Lakers win that game.
We will be holding our breath waiting for you to tell us about the same thing after the 2nd game!
slinslin
Welcome to Amareca
The thing that Jon Barry also said, we were getting open shots in the first half all the time, we just missed everything. Some might not have been the best shots especially Diaw's but they were all open, every 3 we took was wide open.
We were stonecold, Kobe was on fire for 3 quarters, we still won, for the Lakers to have a chance to win, games like this are the ones they must win.
We were stonecold, Kobe was on fire for 3 quarters, we still won, for the Lakers to have a chance to win, games like this are the ones they must win.
Treesquid PhD
Pardon my Engrish
And when has that been a new thing?
Sorry but everything did not play as you said, Kwame and Turiaf did not shut down Amare by any stretch, even Suns fans who hate Amare can deny that, nor did Farmer have any answer for Nash. Shall we mention Barbosa was as effective as Kobe in the second half? What's the answer for him?
Game 1 is usualy the best chance for an away team to steal a game, the Lakers are in must win mode at this point. I don't see them winning the series by going 4-1 against the Suns if they lose game 2.
Lamar with 17 points 16 rebounds. Marion has no hope guarding him in the post. The game simply came down to execution and knowing what is working. Once Kobe cooled off go back to Lamar.
Suns would have started double teaming Lamar,and that would have left everyone wide open. It's really not about talent in my opinion. The Laker guards simply don't go back inside when the jumpers stop falling. The gameplan worked,and it will work in game 2.
The Lakers will always get high percentage buckets in the paint because like i have said there bigs play no defense. Game 2 will be the exact same.Only Lakers need to keep going inside.
Suns would have started double teaming Lamar,and that would have left everyone wide open. It's really not about talent in my opinion. The Laker guards simply don't go back inside when the jumpers stop falling. The gameplan worked,and it will work in game 2.
The Lakers will always get high percentage buckets in the paint because like i have said there bigs play no defense. Game 2 will be the exact same.Only Lakers need to keep going inside.
Treesquid PhD
Pardon my Engrish
The problem is Kobe will never defer to make that happen. He shot twice as many shot attempts as Odom. Why do you have any confidence this will suddenly change?
JS22
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Boris Diaw is just horrible. It's time to package him with a few draft picks and cut their losses.
And Barbosa could be as dangerous as Iverson if he really wanted too.
And Barbosa could be as dangerous as Iverson if he really wanted too.
jbeecham
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Great 2nd half by the Suns and awesome defense & rebounding in the 4th qtr. We didn't play anywhere near as well as we can and still won and that's encouraging, but it's still just 1 game so don't get overconfident. Hopefully we don't shoot 33% or worse in any qtr for the rest of the playoffs (especially missing wide open shots like we were).
Definitely need better scoring from Diaw, Bell & JR and probably some more minutes for KT, at least when Ronny Turiaf is in the game. With Diaw being so ineffective, I would have given KT a lot more time because he can miss 15ft jumpers just as well, but he plays better defense.
Definitely need better scoring from Diaw, Bell & JR and probably some more minutes for KT, at least when Ronny Turiaf is in the game. With Diaw being so ineffective, I would have given KT a lot more time because he can miss 15ft jumpers just as well, but he plays better defense.
Treesquid PhD
Pardon my Engrish
He is not terrible but he certainly is not worth 1/5 of the salary cap.
Chaplin
Better off silent
Is this a real post?
Lamar Odom should have had 30 points today, but he didn't. Boris disrupted things and he certainly knows how to take advantage of a smaller defender. He was a little off today, but that first half was a totally different team--that first half was some of the most awful basketball we've played in a long time.
ASUCHRIS
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Because he is a Lakers fan?
Seriously, this series doesn't worry me at all. Raja and Nash had bad afternoons, yet we still won pretty easily. I still think we win in 5, and wouldn't be stunned if we swept them.Because like last season's playoffs Phil will let Kobe know stop taking long jumpers and go back inside to Lamar. Next game look for Lamar to get a lot of post up touches. The game will again come down to a close game.
Lakers have the talent and the gameplan to take this to Game 7.
Treesquid PhD
Pardon my Engrish
you mean just like when Kobe quit like the last playoff series? come on you can do better than that.
Chaplin
Better off silent
You have too much confidence in the Lakers. Sure, their defense was decent in the first half. But honestly, your team was leaving our guys open, especially at the 3-point line, and we simply weren't hitting them. It has nothing to do with the defense on those shots, it's all about the shots just not falling. If you know anything about the Suns, you know that is unusual and won't carry over for an entire series.
This isn't last year, no matter how much you're clinging to it.
JS22
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Yeah, it's a real post.
Odom had 17/16. If Kobe would have actually passed the ball Odom would have went for 30. Diaw looked horrible on both ends - not just a "little off."
I just don't understand why people defend him so much. He has done nothing this season to warrant his 9 million dollar a year contract. (Which by the way was what Johnson wanted.)
He was great last season, but this year it looks like he's not even trying.
JCSunsfan
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Funny. They asked MD about that and he said he didn't make any adjustments. He just lets Nash decide what to do on the floor.
elindholm
edited for content
I tuned in at about the middle of the second quarter, right when the Lakers took their first 12-point lead and the Suns wiped it out on a 14-2 run. I thought the Suns played pretty well overall from that point, with Barbosa the best of course. Diaw was okay, still too many sleepy passes for my taste. Bell probably won't shoot well in this series because of all of the energy he's spending defensively. Stoudemire made more of a defensive effort than usual and Marion's energy paid off for several loose balls.
The Lakers shot 80%+ through most of the third quarter (at one point they were 12-14) and the Suns still narrowed the gap. Like others have said, the game wouldn't have been close if the Suns had been able to make any threes.
Laker fans can't have it both ways with Bryant. When he's making everything, of course you want him shooting every time. Then he misses a few, and suddenly he's making poor decisions and ignoring his teammates. What the fans apparently don't realize is that, if Bryant doesn't know before he shoots whether it's going in, most likely they don't either. I think Bryant took matters into his own hands too much this game, but on the other hand, if he scores 28 points in the first half, is that a bad thing?
At any rate, the Suns have now defeated the Lakers in four straight postseason games, and of course the last Los Angeles win before that streak bears a couple of huge asterisks. Still, I'm sure the Laker trolls are convinced that they have the Suns right where they want them.
The Lakers shot 80%+ through most of the third quarter (at one point they were 12-14) and the Suns still narrowed the gap. Like others have said, the game wouldn't have been close if the Suns had been able to make any threes.
Laker fans can't have it both ways with Bryant. When he's making everything, of course you want him shooting every time. Then he misses a few, and suddenly he's making poor decisions and ignoring his teammates. What the fans apparently don't realize is that, if Bryant doesn't know before he shoots whether it's going in, most likely they don't either. I think Bryant took matters into his own hands too much this game, but on the other hand, if he scores 28 points in the first half, is that a bad thing?
At any rate, the Suns have now defeated the Lakers in four straight postseason games, and of course the last Los Angeles win before that streak bears a couple of huge asterisks. Still, I'm sure the Laker trolls are convinced that they have the Suns right where they want them.
Drop D
Striving for the Penultimate
Marion had 16 points and 16 rebounds. Lamar has no hope guarding Marion in the post or outside. The Suns should have actually ran plays for Marion.
The Lakers tried running everything through Kwame for a few positions with disastrous results. He had troubles holding on to the ball and had a few bad shots.
Amare had some success against the Laker bigs (23 points and 12 boards). Turiaf was very active on defense, but Amare was quicker. And Barbosa was too quick for everyone.
Amare palyed some nice defense (two blockshots to the Lakers one). Amare also had two steals that denied the Laker bigs from getting the ball down low.
Basically, you can use the same argument for the Suns and say that when we were cold early, we should have been feeding Amare. Easier said than done at times.
Actually the game looked a lot like last year . I don't see much of a difference. Lakers had a 12 point lead Mid 3 quarter and stopped going inside. Luke and Lamar can get easy buckets with ease if we keep going back to it.You make it seem like you won by 30 and dominated. The Lakers gameplan worked just like last year.
Kobe did not stick to the gameplan and that was the difference.I don't mind Kobe taking shots when he is on fire,but once he cooled off,go back to Lamar and Luke down low.
Barbosa was guarding Luke Walton.
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It is funny how opponents always think it is their great defense when the Suns miss open jumpers, but that it is a fluke when the Suns go bananas from the outside.
The remarkable part about this game was that the Suns showed they can win ugly. Holding any team to 10 points in the fourth quarter is a major accomplishment. You can blame Kobe, but the same thing happened in their game against the Clippers when the Lakers melted down and blew a 12 point lead with less than six minutes left. The Suns played Kobe tough the entire game and made him work hard for his points, so that by the fourth quarter he was out of gas.
The biggest change the Suns made in the second half was with their help defense. It was almost non-existent in the first half but pulled the Lakers into charges in the second half. Along with better denial on Odom, none of the Lakers were especially effective in the second half.
I think the Suns strategy of going inside - outside they used in the second half may be used from the start on Tue. Hopefully the Suns will stop rushing their shots which is (IMHO) their main problem when everyone goes cold. (Thakfully, Leandro made up for poor outside shooting with some great drives to the basket).
Boris was especially cold shooting, but I liked how he worked to post up their guards. He should be more effective in later games.
The remarkable part about this game was that the Suns showed they can win ugly. Holding any team to 10 points in the fourth quarter is a major accomplishment. You can blame Kobe, but the same thing happened in their game against the Clippers when the Lakers melted down and blew a 12 point lead with less than six minutes left. The Suns played Kobe tough the entire game and made him work hard for his points, so that by the fourth quarter he was out of gas.
The biggest change the Suns made in the second half was with their help defense. It was almost non-existent in the first half but pulled the Lakers into charges in the second half. Along with better denial on Odom, none of the Lakers were especially effective in the second half.
I think the Suns strategy of going inside - outside they used in the second half may be used from the start on Tue. Hopefully the Suns will stop rushing their shots which is (IMHO) their main problem when everyone goes cold. (Thakfully, Leandro made up for poor outside shooting with some great drives to the basket).
Boris was especially cold shooting, but I liked how he worked to post up their guards. He should be more effective in later games.
Good win. The Lakers gave us a scare, especially since the thought of going down 0-1 wasn't good, but we pulled it out. Kobe was AMAZING in the first half, but just couldn't hit a shot later on and that hurt the team. He needs to start taking advantage of those double teams by passing to the open man or else this'll be down quick.
And how 'bout LB? So much confidence, such a talented player.
And Marion, the tortilla, put up his regular numbers today. He was no tortilla, more like a bean and cheese burrito since he "stuft the stats" if beans can be considered points and cheese be considered rebounds, then the sauce can be the block and steals.... :-l
And how 'bout LB? So much confidence, such a talented player.
And Marion, the tortilla, put up his regular numbers today. He was no tortilla, more like a bean and cheese burrito since he "stuft the stats" if beans can be considered points and cheese be considered rebounds, then the sauce can be the block and steals.... :-l
I did not read this entire thread, but i agree with this post somewhat. Overall I thought kobe's teammates played better in this game than the last 2 reg season games i watched(La/phx). But for some reason kobe didn't trust his teammates down the stretch. I think the lakers proved in this game that they can give phoenix a tough series, but to have a shot to win, the non-kobe's have to play well for 48 mins. and kobe has to set those guys up late in games.
