Suns 115, Lakers 106: The more things change, the more the Lakers better hope things stay the same

…but so fucking right. Shit.

Chances are good that Kobe’s supporting cast will show up on Thursday, back at Staples. I personally hope they don’t, but I’m a homer. Lakers in Game 1 & 2 looked like a different team than the one we saw in 3 & 4. Anticipation for game 5 might be worse than the layover between game 2 and game 3… See you Thursday!

“The Twilight Zone”

i think we struggle to get stops

I now get the feeling the Suns will score every trip down the court. Even if they miss a shot, they seem to get either a bail-out foul call, loose ball, or an offensive rebound.

It’s frustrating.

Our bigs tonight played horribly as a group. Pau was terrible, he needs to step it up. Drew was decent but he’s inconsistent. Lamar was alright but played poorly down the stretch.

It’s inexcusable for us to get out-rebounded and when we do, like tonight, trouble lies ahead. We need to take care of the glass in LA and buckle down on defense.

our rebounding was poor too. We got outrebounded 38-51. And Pau had a pretty subpar night in this department with only 5 boards. The extra rebounds lead to more possessions. I expect better on thursday.

http://docfunk.blogspot.com/2010/05/lakers-vs-suns-game-4.html

but i don’t think game 5 will be a walk in the park. if phoenix takes it….

all i’m saying is, if the lakers go in thinking they’re fine, that’ll make em give 80% again and all of a sudden we’re facing a 3-2 deficit.

Like you I am dumbfounded that the Lakers can’t get past this zone defense when they had a whole day to figure something out after the loss in game 3. However if they can’t use their talent and knowledge to figure this out then they don’t deserve to win the series. I sure hope they come out playing 100% on Thursday because you know they don’t want their season to end like this.

but I am confident that the lakers will win this series. What worries me the way celtics are playing. They will destroy us if we don’t fire at 100%.

I might be getting a little far ahead though…..

“if your the Lakers it’s your job to get the ball to the hot hand, and they didn’t do that”
“Kobe with only 1 shot the first 9 minutes of the 4th…I don’t get how you can not get the ball to the hot hand, and it was Kobe here.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shDNaFhPiJY

I know the Lakers fans are disappointed and down on the team right now, but lets be honest here—-the Lakers are in the driver’s seat. The Suns did nothing but take care of home court. I’ve been a huge Suns fan since the mid-to-late ‘80s when KJ joined the team and helped turned the organization around. However, I’m not a homer or don’t drink the Suns koolaid. The Suns have not beat the Lakers on their home floor this year and presumably in the past three years. The series is best of three now with two in LA. As happy as I can be that the Suns have shown grit and heart by evening the series at 2, I don’t see them beating the Lakers in LA. Like I said before the series started, I just hope the Suns don’t roll over like Utah and get steamrolled by the Lake Show. It was nice to see the bench finally show up, at least for one game. If anything, game 4 has only provided an interest or spike in future tv ratings going into game 5. As much as I despise the Lakers, being a Suns fan, I can’t overlook the championships and the fact that your team has the better talent right now. There’s no reason we should win this series. I’m just glad we lasted at least 6 games and gave the defending champs some decent competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f7jNd_a3M0

im into depression mode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can only be coming a group of fans as mad and frustrated as I am. Since I’m not crying, I can only laugh and shake my head.

Thanks for sharing in my pain, guys.

Lakers in 6.

i think.

Read through the whole game. I have never heard people so hung up on “the refs are killing us” I watched the game,pretty well called. You had best be thankfull that Kobe went off like he did. The score could have been BAD! You people sure have changed your tune. A few days ago you couldn’t wait to play Boston. Now you couldn’t beat Boston if you did. The world doesn’t like kobe,but you don’t have much else! No bench and a few role players!

i think they will win game 5 and ultimately win the series. i rather have it this way than the lakers having a cake walk to the finals. seems like teams that have easy roads to the finals usually don’t do all that great.

Well, that didn’t go as predicted. Thought the Lakers would get one in Phoenix. Lakers in 7 then. Hopefully this scenario will toughen the Lakers up if they do end up advancing.

Thats not our problem. The problem is the lakers inability to play defense since this series started. And unless this team go back to that defense first mentality, we will have trouble getting wins for the rest of this postseason.

Although I understand people’s frustration with the lack of foul calls, especially loose ball fouls, it’s clear when watching the game that the suns are fouling a LOT less. Yes, if they got called for a few more the Lakers might have won, but in terms of playing, the Suns just aren’t fouling when contesting shots.

I also feel a little bit disappointed that the article referred to the 2-3 zone as a gimmick. Any defense has its strengths and weaknesses, and it’s not difficult to break down a strict man-to-man defense either. The point is that the Lakers didn’t show proper preparation, not that the Suns are using a 2-3 zone. And as you mentioned, Ron Artest and Lamar Odom were horrible, failing to attack the zones or shoot the ball well in the past two games. The point is, the Suns’ defense is not a cheap amateur gameplan – it’s a defense that gives a different kind of look. Honestly, the Lakers should worry more about their own defense giving up a 100+ points to the Suns for the third straight game.

Suns are getting too many open 3’s off of the pick and roll. 1.23 ppp should be enough to take the win. Phoenix shredded Boston’s defense this year as well.

I am a little bit worry now. Esp, if the lakers keep playing poor defense and the suns keep shooting the 3s well.

That is the % that the Lakers shot when they were at the rim. That is the solution to attacking the Zone. Dribble penetration. In other words, attack the basket. Every player on this team except for Fisher and Mbenga can take someone off the dribble. Instead they get pushed into shooting threes. Kobe, Lamar and Artest all have the ability to go around their man and attack the basket.

No one can say with a straight face that the calls weren’t obviously against the Lakers, every time a Suns player got caught in the air (Nash) with NO WHERE to go they would get a call. Every time a Suns player would fall to the ground after a shot they would get a call, I can’t recall one time they didn’t get a call after flopping to the ground. I watched that Fisher on Nash “hit” twice and didn’t see contact, maybe I was watching the wrong angle, but I thought it was interesting how it took Nash about 2 seconds after he got “hit” to react, if it was so bad that he had to crumble to the floor, you’d think the crossing of the pain threshold would’ve been instantaneous, no?

WITH ALL THAT IN MIND, I can also remember Pau Gasol not getting his first fucking rebound until after it fell into his lap on a Suns FT miss. I can remember watching Kobe play 8 feet off his man, who’s obviously waiting in the wings and can consistently drain 3’s, he knows this and allows it to happen ALL NIGHT. For all of his offensive brilliance and defensive abilities playing man-on-man, I honestly feel some times that Kobe has forgotten how to play team defense, not just a 2 or 3 player shading gimmick to funnel one opposing player into tough shots all night, but legitimate rotations and constant close outs as part of a cohesive, team effort. Although, I love seeing most of the stat line he had last night, he pussied out too, taking jumpshot after jumpshot after jumpshot and making them, the problem being that he rarely drove into the paint to set the tone for the rest of the team. Beautiful shooting, but it’s fool’s gold, because Kobe does not shoot like that consistently.

Pau Gasol needs to stop putting the pussy on the pedestal, loosen up that sphincter, and play some damn defense. That damn Spaniard reminds me of Vega from Street Fighter, always flopping around and avoiding contact. He’s always crying about missed calls, he doesn’t even look angry, he looks incredulous and entitled which pisses me off way more. You can show toughness and play the game with finesse and for those of you wondering, NO, that’s not an oxymoron.

Speaking of morons, what the hell is going on with Lamar Odom? Lamar has gone all Jeff Green and Channing Frye on us and disappeared on the road. I can’t even count how many times Lamar halfheartedly asked for the ball when diving to the rim, if the man would play with a little emotion, any at all, hell I’ll even take sad so that way at least we’ll throw someone else in the damn game who can play with heart (Vujacic I’m looking at you….(I am completely aware of what I just said and it sickens me)). Lamar looks comatose out there, not “cool customer” comatose, but actual “his mental condition worries me,” comatose. Someone needs to steal his damn candy to piss him off a bit. Phil give him back his damn coffee!

Derek Fisher gets a pass, he was getting slammed all night on screens and although he was consistently getting burned, I’ll take him on my team over Brown or Farmar any day, THERE I SAID IT.

As does Drew, playing on a gimmicky knee with a gimmicky knee wrap/brace?

Ron Artest should be playing all-world defense right now and it is instead becoming more of a defensive liability than Ariza was this time of year, last year. He needs to step it up and get physical, give Dragic one of those patented East Coast fouls and see if he keeps driving, then do it again. Ron was one of the few Lakers who I thought was passing up a few shooting opportunities to drive it into the lane.

The Bench can burn in the core of the Sun for all they’re worth. Except Mbenga…I really like that guy. =)

because he plays like he was not born on this planet.

Maybe a gene test is necessary.

Is there a rule you have to be human to play in the NBA?

had the solution for the zone. Did you see Pau in the high post and Lamar switching into the high post as well. They were just being shaded so heavily because we refused to attack the ball from the perimeter and make them move. When we did swing the ball we kept passing it around the outside instead of passing it into the high post when it was open. Hesitation on the offense killed us tonight.

our guards had to roam to stop them from getting into the lane, which we did limit but unfortunately they finally hit from 3 for two quarters. Our effort on the rebounding is more of what upset me than anything. although on the offensive end it usually went along the lines of the ball bouncing over Pau as he’s squished between two Phx defenders. Same happened to Pau anytime he attempted shots at the basket. The fact that he made them is one thing, the fact that he kept having to fade and fall to make them is another.

with their bench outscoring ours and their starters by a wide margin. We lost with our bigs unable to gain any sort of position in the paint without having to resort to cutting someone. We lost with our best shooters having extremely off nights, asides from Kobe. We lost with Odom and Artest regressing away from the mean, again. We lost with Gasol having to twist and writhe and fall to get anything. We lost with everything, but Kobe, going wrong for us and almost everything going right for them. And we lost by? 9. Not 20. Not even 15. 9. We survived a 1.78 PPP quarter. We have survived the closest thing to the Suns best shot and we lost by? 9. If we come close to hitting our inside chippies and playing even a resemblance of defense, I still believe we can win. If we play anything like we did last night, unless we play like Kobe, then we won’t win soundly and it’ll still be questionable.

We lost with our best shooters having extremely off nights, asides from Kobe.

you shot a better FG% than we did.
We won with our starters having extremely pedestrian outings, and we won shooting a lower percentage than the lakers, by all accounts the lakers should have won this game, it was lack of desire and hustle by the lakers that gave this one away, and that should be troubling.