Suns vs. Lakers - Series Prediction Thread

[jenna2891]

Suns in 6

maybe Suns in 5

 

[Sunshooter]

Suns in 5 or 6

I love Suns homepage intro. The theme music is great . What's the name of this music?

good job equakecreative!

 

[msdundee]

Suns in 5 or 6

I love Suns homepage intro. The theme music is great . What's the name of this music?

good job equakecreative!

Dunno, but seeing LB with the blood running down his chin made me mad all over again.

 

[Renz]

Suns in three.

Wow, that would be unusual.

 

[F-Dog]

Wow, that would be unusual.

Not as unusual as last season, when the Suns won in 6.5.

 

[slinslin]

Some other facts

We are a perfect 7-0 in the last 3 years against the Lakers when Amare is starting.

We are 10-0 over the last 3 seasons when either Amare is starting or Amare is injured but Kurt Thomas is healthy.

Our only losses came when
a) Amare and Kurt Thomas were injured and Steve Nash and Raja Bell also missed that game.
b) When Amare and Kurt Thomas came off the bench and played their first regular season game in more than half a year, on opening night at LA, without Kobe Bryant and our team struggling to beat anyone followed by 3 more straight losses or something like that.

 

[az1965]

Suns in 6

maybe Suns in 5

Or perhaps in 4

Or, if you really want to look at all possibilities, then why not in 7?

 

[JWF]

Suns in 5.

Outside of Kobe, the Lakers simply dont have an advantage anywhere on the floor.

 

[ab and kb]

I have got to go with the Lakers in 6. They have disrupted us every game this year, and Phil is too smart. I don't see it happening.

 

[Linderbee]

Once again, the referees will see to it that L.A. wins at least two.

Suns in 6.

 

[arwillan]

I have got to go with the Lakers in 6. They have disrupted us every game this year, and Phil is too smart. I don't see it happening.

who is this us? you are a lakers fan arent you? your name would seem to mean something like andrew bynum and kobe bryant. they havent disrupted anything. like someone said above, we have won everytime amare has started or KT has started. no chance for the lakers.

 

[slinslin]

They have disrupted themselves if anything.

 

[KB24FTW]

Lakers in 6

 

[D-Dogg]

There's a growing confidence among Suns fans, and since I don't know what will happen or which Laker team shows up, I'll go ahead and change my prediction to Lakers in 6.

We split in PHX, get two in LA...and get game 6. The Lakers learned more from last season's matchup than the Suns did.

So there.

 

[KB24FTW]

There's a growing confidence among Suns fans, and since I don't know what will happen or which Laker team shows up, I'll go ahead and change my prediction to Lakers in 6.

We split in PHX, get two in LA...and get game 6. The Lakers learned more from last season's matchup than the Suns did.

So there.

That's what's up!

 

[Ollie]

Suns in five.

 

[Chaplin]

There's a growing confidence among Suns fans, and since I don't know what will happen or which Laker team shows up, I'll go ahead and change my prediction to Lakers in 6.

We split in PHX, get two in LA...and get game 6. The Lakers learned more from last season's matchup than the Suns did.

So there.

I know you're a Laker fan, but honestly, do you actually the Lakers are going to beat the Suns in this series? You're usually a level-headed guy, but have you been watching the Lakers for the last month and a half? They have been one of the worst teams in the West--they got into the playoffs by virtue of their record before March.

 

[D-Dogg]

I know you're a Laker fan, but honestly, do you actually the Lakers are going to beat the Suns in this series? You're usually a level-headed guy, but have you been watching the Lakers for the last month and a half? They have been one of the worst teams in the West--they got into the playoffs by virtue of their record before March.

Of course I do.


Have you not seen the multiple posts that say I don't think they have a shot this year? That remains...I'm only changing my predection for fun. Shhh.

 

[TheHopToad]

So I had to go take a peak at one of the Laker message boards, and at least most of them are confident and excited in their team, although a bit delusional.

I found this one a bit interesting:

Who is as pumped as I am!? A little over two days to go!!! Btw, this team, this Laker team is substantially better on paper than it was last year

Good thing we're not playing this series on paper...

 

[D-Dogg]

You're usually a level-headed guy, but have you been watching the Lakers for the last month and a half? They have been one of the worst teams in the West--they got into the playoffs by virtue of their record before March.

I'd also like to say something about this point...yes it is true and they have been terrible. But I don't think that's who you are going to see in the playoffs. I have more faith in Phil than that. The playoffs is a time for focus, scouting only one team and playing at a higher intensity. I don't think the slumping Laker team will show up. And if they show up focused and ready to go, this will be a hell of a series because regardless of how overconfident many Suns fans are in here, the two teams matchup very well--the Lakers are very good at slowing the Suns tempo and have big bodies in Turiaf and Kwame that make Amare work too much for shots. Farmar will play Nash better, but if Raja goes stellar from three like he has the last few times we've played none of that matters. His shooting, IMO, is what will make or break this series...when he's hot we can't stop him because we have very bad perimeter defense and gamble waaaay too much.

If the slumping Lakers of the last three months show up, it might be a Suns sweep. But I don't think that team is the one you will see. I have extreme confidence in Phil to have the team ready to roll. Does that mean they will win? No, but it means they can. Not likely, but there's a shot. Regardless, I think the Suns will probably win it in six.

 

[TheHopToad]

The key to any Laker shot in this series is going to be Game 1 tomorrow. If they take the opener, it will boost their confidence and give them automatic momentum that could carry the rest of the series. But honestly, they need to rely on unforced poor games by the Suns to win.

If the Suns come out and dominate Game 1, then the Lakers will quickly realize that they are the "same old Lakers". If the master plan they've been working on all week to beat the Suns gets thrown back in their face right from the start, they may panic too soon and resort to the "Kobe take over" style of play, and that's exactly what the Suns want them to do.

 

[D-Dogg]

The key to any Laker shot in this series is going to be Game 1 tomorrow. If they take the opener, it will boost their confidence and give them automatic momentum that could carry the rest of the series. But honestly, they need to rely on unforced poor games by the Suns to win.

If the Suns come out and dominate Game 1, then the Lakers will quickly realize that they are the "same old Lakers". If the master plan they've been working on all week to beat the Suns gets thrown back in their face right from the start, they may panic too soon and resort to the "Kobe take over" style of play, and that's exactly what the Suns want them to do.

They won't deviate from their plan, they don't care if they win game one or game two...as long as they get the split.

And the Suns haven't dominated the Lakers this year, so I don't expect them to dominate them in this series. They will probably beat them, but I don't think they'll dominate them.

 

[azirish]

It's funny how the Lakers are expected to be a vastly better team than the one that almost totally melted down when their playoff hopes were on the line. But the Suns are expected to be much worse than the team that the one that won 61 games.

If the Suns have had a problem this season, it's that they tend to coast against weak opponents. It seems like the just barely beat bad teams over and over -- yet somehow they do beat them. But when they are juiced up, the Suns were able to kill the Mavs in their last two matchups. That is much more likely to be the Suns team that will play in the playoffs.

The reason Suns fans fear the Spurs is that the Spurs are typically allowed to foul at lot in the name of "physical defense". They are so used to fouling that they are constantly shocked when some raf actually has the audacity to call a foul a foul. The Spurs do play good defense, but their ability to go beyond makes them a tough matchup for anyone.

The Spurs get away with stuff because of their reputation of being great on defense. The Lakers don't have that kind of reputation and are ulikely to keep the Suns from hitting shots for four games.

 

[D-Dogg]

But the Suns are expected to be much worse than the team that the one that won 61 games.

I don't think anyone has said anything like that.

 

[F-Dog]

Here's an interesting tidbit--the Lakers have the worst defense of any team in the Western Conference playoffs, including Golden State:

http://www.knickerblogger.net/stats/2007/d_de.htm

They're also worse than Minnesota and Atlanta.