Playoffs 2010: Western Conf Finals, Game 1 – Suns At Lakers Game Thread

[mojorizen7]

here's my game 1 truth:

1. amare: he just played soft. offensively and defensively. i understand his shooting ability is a big weapon against their bigs, but his steadfast refusal to attack the paint just allows them to dictate the game. he has to attack. gasol is going to block his shot every time? no way in hell. and bynum was a nonfactor. and defensively . . . GEEEEZ. that was old amare. disengaged. no hustle. not even paying attention. 3 rebounds? give him a skirt for tonight's game.

Yes. I thought the LAKERS made him either pull up(quick) everytime, or force him to dribble around to the baseline. Amare need's to force the defense to react to him.

2. nash: overdribbled at times tonight and for some damn reason just lets fish get in his head. he should dominate fish and he just doesn't. he also needs to penetrate more to create for the rest of the team. not over dribble, mind you, but penetrate, create movement on their defense and find the right shooter. he just really looked bad to me tonight.

I don't like Derek Fisher.
He's a member of the ALL-SUNS-KILLER team.

3. jrich: if he's not expending himself guarding kobe he's got to put up points. and if that means more movement off the ball instead of waiting for the kick to 3 (cuz artest is waiting at home for him), then he's got to get more movement early in the game. i liked the adjustment gentry made with the curl into the middle. the good thing in jrich's game? he WAS hitting shots, he just wasn't getting many looks. which in my mind means he's still got his touch and wasn't intimidated by the lakers, he just needs more/better plays run for him.

Good point about him making shots when they were presented Ouchie, he looked confident making some perimeter shots tonight. I just think we need to use JRich as a decoy to possibly get Artest out of the starting lineup.
I think we can bring JRich off the bench & force Phil to make a decision....freeing up G.Hill to do something other than getting embarrassed by Kobe.....Hill can score if he's asked too.
Who's gonna guard Kobe though?.......relax i got this...

4. hill: love him to death. he played hard. he looked old. i realize this isn't a surprise to anyone on this board, but when kobe's right, like he was tonight, hill has no chance.

See above.

5. lopez: surprise production. but man is he slow. just can't get to loose balls. but he provided us some impact tonight. something to grow on, 'specially if bynum's really mostly a no-go.

He's slow but he played very well tonight early before the game was a joke. Lopez disrupted a few shots, but he was smart with his shot selection and he was running that P&R for a bit w/Nash when Amare was sleepwalking.

6. frye: dude's nads shrivel up against the lakers. have all season. i was really hoping that his success in the prior to two rounds would carry confidence over into a series against a team against whom he struggles. no luck. dude was atrocious shooting the ball and it carried over into the rest of his game.

Absofreakinlutely. I'd like to bring JRich off the bench so Frye doesn't feel the pressure to score 20 in the STAPLES Center.

7. rebounds: at one point amare, lopez, and frye combined for 9 rebounds. at the same point odom had 19. that's just flat out embarrassing.

8. dragic: looked unfazed out there. good for him. i thought he played too FEW minutes. he was perhaps the most aggressive player we had on the floor tonight.

He did. Gonna get flamed for this but why not start Goran next to Nash?
Goran is better suited as a 2 now(yes E. you were right)...Dragic is more athletic than Hill and has better vertical speed & i'd like to try him on Kobe. Keep Nash on Fisher(ugh) and let Hill/Artest play out. Again, the point is to get JRich playing in space against the LAKERS garbage 2nd unit w/Barbosa,Duds & Frye.

9. barbs: surprised me. i'll be more surprised if he does it again.

Seemed like he was just as confident as Goran tonight. Gentry obviously gameplanned for those two to light up the LAKERS bench scrubs(when Odum wasn't getting offensive rebound putbacks against the likes of Lou & Frye.)

10. dudley: may just not have a good place in this series. he's either too small to defend most of their players or not athletic enough. a shame 'cuz i love his heart, but i see him being a nonfactor in this series. hope i'm wrong.

Yeah, although i thought Duds played ok against Kobe a few times.....I don't expect Jared to somehow figure out how best to guard Kobe this quick. Remember,Raja had some experience against Bryant. Duds is in a difficult role here in this series obviously.

11. lakers shooting: i don't think we'll see them this hot again, but man was that an old fashioned butt whupping. i really don't see them continuing to shoot the 3 as well as they did. that offers some hope. we have to stop running at them. the overpursuit killed our rotation.

Yeah it sucked.

12. odom: he killed us. and i know he traditionally kills us. but he also has a tendency to disappear. he won't get 19 and 19 again on us. i suspect he'll disappear in the next game.

There's no stopping Odum unless he gets lazy.

Solid take though Ouchie. Ouch.

 

[Chaplin]

can someone ban this clown and send him to spurstalk where he belongs already?

My thoughts exactly.

Heh, nice to agree on something for once...

 

[Ode to Ocho]

Well at least when I talk tough about the Laker facts I show up. Amare talks tough then gets embarrassed by Pau Gasol and the Lakers 6th man.

 

[tobiazz]

here's my game 1 truth:

1. amare: he just played soft. offensively and defensively. i understand his shooting ability is a big weapon against their bigs, but his steadfast refusal to attack the paint just allows them to dictate the game. he has to attack. gasol is going to block his shot every time? no way in hell. and bynum was a nonfactor. and defensively . . . GEEEEZ. that was old amare. disengaged. no hustle. not even paying attention. 3 rebounds? give him a skirt for tonight's game.

Your 15 points are all good.

Amare is the key to this series. He historically has problems with the Lakers, but if he is to be considered a legitimate All-NBA player he must overcome this challenge. If he at least evens out Gasol, the Suns have a great shot. If he grabs under ten rebounds per game, he is really just a Barbosa in a PF body. I wish he could operate in the gray area between jump shot and all-out drive to the basket.

If Amare is not getting rebounds or FGs he should at least be setting hard picks, banging, and trying to frustrate their front line. Instead he just lets them dominate him with their length the entire game.

That said, this Lakers team is very good and it's understandable that a (second tier) team would not be able to compete with them.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

If Amare is not getting rebounds or FGs he should at least be setting hard picks, banging, and trying to frustrate their front line. Instead he just lets them dominate him with their length the entire game.

Well, he is what he is at this point and has never done that. Seriously, when has Amare in his entire career impacted a game when he's not scoring? It's what separates him from the truly great players out there.

This is the kind of matchup where a great player would throw up a 15/20/5 because the Lakers have so much length to slow him down offensively and therefore focus on the other things.

 

[mojorizen7]

My thoughts exactly.

Heh, nice to agree on something for once...

I thought you guys were gonna take care of that. I don't have the connections u do.
This cupcake's vocabulary is like scoring a two pair.

 

[sunsfan88]

Anyone else think Marion could have helped guard Odom???

 

[sunsfan88]

Our supposedly two "best" bench players, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye combine for 2 of 13 from the field and 2 of 12 from 3pt land.

If I am the coach and two of my players display that kind of performance in the Western Conference Finals...I'd probably disciple them real good and cut their minutes for next game. But Gentry is a very soft coach and I doubt anything happens.

I think someone needs to remind Frye about his size and tell him to stop being a ***** and post up. Someone needs to remind that Dudley that there's this thing called the "pumpfake" that he should try instead of always forcing 3s.

And why didn't we put Amundson in until it was garbage time?? We weren't getting outrebounded in the 3rd and he could have certainly helped that and perhaps contained Odom! Another "great" coach move by Gentry....

IMO Barbosa and Dragic were the only useful bench players today.

 

[green machine]

Anyone else think Marion could have helped guard Odom???

The same Marion who regularly got abused by Odom every time they matched up in the postseason? Really?

 

[green machine]

Our supposedly two "best" bench players, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye combine for 2 of 13 from the field and 2 of 12 from 3pt land.

If I am the coach and two of my players display that kind of performance in the Western Conference Finals...I'd probably disciple them real good and cut their minutes for next game. But Gentry is a very soft coach and I doubt anything happens.

I think someone needs to remind Frye about his size and tell him to stop being a ***** and post up. Someone needs to remind that Dudley that there's this thing called the "pumpfake" that he should try instead of always forcing 3s.

And why didn't we put Amundson in until it was garbage time?? We weren't getting outrebounded in the 3rd and he could have certainly helped that and perhaps contained Odom! Another "great" coach move by Gentry....

IMO Barbosa and Dragic were the only useful bench players today.

Disciple them? Gentry may be a good coach but he's not ready to have followers like that.

If you mean discipline, it's not as if they weren't trying - they had off nights. Why should they be punished with fewer minutes?

As for Frye posting up, why don't people realize that's not his game? Just because he's tall doesn't mean it's a strength - in fact, I worry when he takes the ball to the hoop instead of taking the spot up 3.

Amundson played early, but he did nothing to keep the Lakers off the boards either.

 

[Michael]

Our supposedly two "best" bench players, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye combine for 2 of 13 from the field and 2 of 12 from 3pt land.

If I am the coach and two of my players display that kind of performance in the Western Conference Finals...I'd probably disciple them real good and cut their minutes for next game. But Gentry is a very soft coach and I doubt anything happens.

I think someone needs to remind Frye about his size and tell him to stop being a ***** and post up. Someone needs to remind that Dudley that there's this thing called the "pumpfake" that he should try instead of always forcing 3s.

And why didn't we put Amundson in until it was garbage time?? We weren't getting outrebounded in the 3rd and he could have certainly helped that and perhaps contained Odom! Another "great" coach move by Gentry....

IMO Barbosa and Dragic were the only useful bench players today.

I disagree about Dudley. His shot wasn't falling, but he still contributed to the team with hustle and energy. Frye, on the other hand, is an obvious liability when his shot is not falling. However, posting him up seems rather counter-productive to me.
The whole point of him playing is to stretch the floor. If he would post up, he would just pull more Fakers into the paint. Wasn't that one of the problems Shaq caused? And the 'Fat Cactus' was certainly more proficient in scoring in the paint than Frye.

 

[cly2tw]

Anyone else think Marion could have helped guard Odom???

NO!

If you mean discipline, it's not as if they weren't trying - they had off nights. Why should they be punished with fewer minutes?

As for Frye posting up, why don't people realize that's not his game? Just because he's tall doesn't mean it's a strength - in fact, I worry when he takes the ball to the hoop instead of taking the spot up 3.

Amundson played early, but he did nothing to keep the Lakers off the boards either.

Aside from one pass by Amare out of paint, Frye never was open enough for his shots. He rushed and we, Nash, made him rush with defending charging in. When you established a groove and confident, you could hit all the tough shots, just like the Lakers did all night long. But Frye was set up to fail by being force-fed without room. In hindsight, had Lou played more instead of Frye, we might have slowed down Gasol and Odom better.

 

[az1965]

We played bad in all aspects of the game - overall offense, overall defense, rebounding, overpersuing, 3 pt shooting, protecting the paiint, bench play (our key strength so far in playoffs), coaching... only slightly bright spots were Dragic and Barbosa off the bench.

Add to the fact that Kobe was on fire.

Further add to the fact that the officiating was atrocious.

We need to get the one on Wed, not keep it close, win it... or I would say the chances for the seriers will get super low.

 

[GorrilaLips]

How many teams blow out another team if the lesser team is at 107. The fact that the lakers had a high percentage shot, free reign in the paint, clamped defense on the suns...i'm surprised the suns weren't blown out by 50 to tell you the truth.

I predicted a suns loss to the lakers first game....I think too many people had high hopes, but remember...this is still the suns. They were beat pretty bad at home vs. game 1 with the trailblazers who gave a lot of teams fits during the regular season. suns just need to D up more, hit their 3's, be aggressive and stand their ground...
If we could pull one in LA, we may have a good chance.

 

[JS22]

If I am the coach and two of my players display that kind of performance in the Western Conference Finals...I'd probably disciple them real good and cut their minutes for next game. But Gentry is a very soft coach and I doubt anything happens.

Are you forgetting when Gentry benched Amare for an entire quarter to send a message?

 

[Greg Popovich]

can someone ban this clown and send him to spurstalk where he belongs already?

Don't send him to Spurstalk-- majority of Spurs fans are solidly behind the Suns in this series--we hate the Lakers in much the same way that Suns fans hate the Spurs if not worse.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Are you forgetting when Gentry benched Amare for an entire quarter to send a message?

This wasn't sending a message. This was because the bench deserved it. They outplayed the starters and Gentry played the hot hand. The bench won the game for us.

Did you hear that Gentry benched Nash for the entire 4th quarter Game 1 to send a message?

 

[Greg Popovich]

Well at least when I talk tough about the Laker facts I show up. Amare talks tough then gets embarrassed by Pau Gasol and the Lakers 6th man.

Yeah--great--so you're a "tough guy."

You get your jollies trolling on message boards to rub salt into the wounds after the Suns lose a game. I guess that makes you a "tough guy."

You throw out obscene remarks at me merely because I support the Suns after they defeated my team. I guess that makes you a "tough guy."

I've never understood people like you. You're probably the kind of guy who used to pick on kids younger than you--smaller than you--because it showed that you were a "tough guy."

Look--this was one game. Yes--Kobe was on fire. And Odom played great. And yes--if the Suns don't make adjustments to negate some of these strengths, it will be tough for them to win in a best of seven.

We'll see what happens over the course of the next few days. I do know one thing--I've never heard about any player for the Suns getting interrogated and indicted for allegations of rape. I've never heard of a Suns player causing the team to split up because he didn't want to share the limelight with another Suns player. I've never heard of Coach Alvin Gentry getting fined several hundreds of thousands of dollars for bitching about the officiating. I've never seen a Suns player cry--twice--on national TV--like a child--because of a game that was lost. I've never seen the Suns engage in lopsided trades with weaker, inferior teams to get that team's best player solely because that team's GM used to be affiliated with the Suns.

Yes--the Lakers had a great game one...

Let's see how the series plays out before you pee in your pants as you bow down to kiss Kobe's ass...

 

[AzStevenCal]

This wasn't sending a message. This was because the bench deserved it. They outplayed the starters and Gentry played the hot hand. The bench won the game for us.bang:

The guy was ready for a rest. While resting, the bench got hot and put us back in the game. Like you said, no message. And yet now, it's become the stuff of legends, the way Gentry resurrected Amare's career by benching his butt during a crucial 4th quarter stretch. And despite denials by Amare and Gentry the legend grows. So apparently, anytime a player goes to the bench we can now call it a benching.

Steve

 

[elindholm]

I don't understand the criticisms of Stoudemire's offense. He scored 23 points on only 13 FGA and shot almost as many free throws as Bryant. And he did it all with only one turnover. If a team with three seven-footers makes up its mind to stop a 6' 10" post player on the inside, they'll be able to do that. According to Doug Collins, Gentry said that Stoudemire would need his midrange jumper to be a weapon in this series. Well, it was, and he hit it, and he scored a lot of efficient points. It's unrealistic and counterproductive to ask for anything more.

His defense and rebounding were a joke, of course, but offensively he was very good.

 

[WildBB]

His defense and rebounding were a joke, of course, but offensively he was very good.

That's hard to fathom in a series like this, unless he's totally intimidated.

He came out in the 2nd half of the season with a chip on his shoulder.

For What!!!! To show up in the conference finals, soft as this!!!!

 

[chickenhead]

After watching that game, I just hope the Lakers peaked early and the Suns got some of the bricks out of their system. If we're back in Phoenix tied and coming off a win, this game is forgotten.

But the Lakers were great across the board and the Suns were poor across the board last night. Frye was passing up shots that I thought were good and missing threes when a higher percentage shot was needed. For much of the game I couldn't even believe the Suns were within 10 points, they were so tentative.

Hopefully this was a wakeup call. They played 4 tough games against the Spurs, but they haven't lost since game 4 in Portland. They dropped the first game of that series, too, and on home court. They need to rechannel that response to adversity.

 

[TJ]

On a bright note: I loved me some RoLo last night. Dude looks like he didnt miss a beat. There were times when he seemed tentative to go at the rim or get a board, but overall I was very impressed. In addition, he is another guy we can use in the P&R game. The Lakers are so focused on Amare in that respect, but if RoLo can be a secondary problem, the Lakers may need to rethink their defensive strategy.

In order to win Game 2, the Suns need to come out and not look so intimidated. To me, the hesitancy was apparent. They were too scared to contest shots around the bucket and to drive against their defense. Nash was trying to do way too much with the ball. He needs to get J-Rich more involved. The Lakers really had no answer to the curl play.

Also, it's hard for me to fathom that the Lakers will have another lights out shooting game like the one they had last night. It seemed like the basket was a horse trough for them. Most of the perimeter shots were contested too so you cant blame guys like Hill for getting up in Kobe's face.

Bottom line. We win Game 2 and we accomplished what we needed to do: take home court advantage.

 

[leclerc]

Three things: Good to see Robin Lopez back! Frye gotto plant his feet before shooting the long ball, that little bunny hop when/after catching the ball brings his percentage way down, and we have to play better defense in game 2.

Steal home court!!
GO SUNS!

 

[nashman]

Very tough to want to contest shots when if you even breath on Kobe a whistle blows! And Nash is getting worked over and bumped all over the place with no whistles, expected as much in LA. We just need to control Odum and actually make some damn shots. Amare needs to pull his head out and get some damn boards!