One obvious advantage is the Odom and Marion matchup.... As much as he is getting dominated by Odom, Marion is too proud and arrogant to guard someone else, so expect Odom to continue to do more damage.
It's going to be a heavy dose of Kwame and Lamar to start this game. Homecourt usually gets you the benefit of most calls, so pounding the ball inside could result in some quick foul trouble for Marion, Thomas, or Diaw. Once one of those 3 go to the bench, it forces Phoenix to guard Kobe with Barbosa or try to buy time with Brian Grant. Brian Grant got a quick hook, because he doesn't have the lateral movement to stay in front of Kwame or Odom. His only defense is wrapping them up and picking up a foul. Without Amare or Kurt Thomas, the Suns don't have many options and really can't make the necessary adjustments. They have to rely on being able to shoot from the perimeter at a high clip or force the Lakers into 20+ turnovers. The Lakers refuse to rush their offense and are more than happy working the 24 second clock all the way to 1 second before they take a shot. I just hope the Lakers don't come out flat in this game because they got over confident from the win in Phoenix. The Lakers can't afford to give the Suns any big quarters tonight. Defense has to be even sharper than the first two games and everyone has to close out on the shooters.
I personally like the idea of Kobe being the initiator and playmaker on offense for about 2 quarters and switch it up in the 2nd half..seemed to have worked in game 2. Not sure if it's good to have him handling the ball and bringing it up so he can't conserve the energy for the later quarters. Other than the Lakers being overconfident, the only thing i have a bad feeling about tonight is the amount of turnovers the Lakers will produce. I expect the Suns to captilize on them, but if the Lakers continue to control the tempo like they have in the first 2 games, then the Lakers are going to have a good shot at winning this.
end of 1st, lakers lead it by 4. brian cook hit a nasty three with 2.7 seconds left, and i think it was smush who went down and fouled tim thomas. anyways, pretty solid first, we just need to continue to slow down the suns pace and not allow them to get so many open looks, because tim thomas is killing us
horrible start to the second. they are just playing into the suns gameplan, which is run run run run run. they better settle down soon, also, how can they miss so many wide open shots? its starting to piss me off
nice dunk by smush. anyways, weve got to slow down the game pace and guys like cook have to stop taking these long shots! wtf is 3 after 3 after 3?? we MUST take it inside! wtf and they thinking?
Smush Parker just had a nasty dunk completely uncontested showing just how poor the Suns are on defense. The Lakers are really playing a lot harder than the Suns right now. I?m not sure what the stats look like, but from just watching the game, even though, it is close the Lakers just appear to be in control to me. With Kobe out right now they are slipping a bit so Phil called a time out.
Brown is really beginning to become what people expected him to be when he was taken 1st overall. I know this didn?t just, happen he has been playing well for a while, but the effect he is having on this game is huge. Lamar Odom had a huge first half only eight points, but eleven rebounds. He has really dominated Marion in this series, like previously mentioned. The Lakers are starting to play as a team in this series it?s no longer a one man show everyone is getting involved from Brown to Parker.
anyone see kwame and diaw get at it? damn, kwame is a beast. thats all i have to say. diaw better watch out. even though kwame isnt a house hold name or anything, the guy is a beast and one of the strongest in the nba.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Brian:</div><div class="quote_post">anyone see kwame and diaw get at it? damn, kwame is a beast. thats all i have to say. diaw better watch out. even though kwame isnt a house hold name or anything, the guy is a beast and one of the strongest in the nba.</div> What I thought was funny about that whole sequence was that Parker was trying to break everyone up, and getting pushed around. Kobe calms down, and puts his hand up, everyone stops and backs away. This series is really getting physical Diaw just threw an elbow at Brown running up the court.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Best Kept Secret:</div><div class="quote_post">What I thought was funny about that whole sequence was that Parker was trying to break everyone up, and getting pushed around. Kobe calms down, and puts his hand up, everyone stops and backs away. This series is really getting physical Diaw just threw an elbow at Brown running up the court.</div> yeah i know. i saw that. lol. its funny though. diaw is trying to push kwame around and all this crap, but kwame is 10xs bigger and stronger. anyways, lakers have to slow down and start making some stops. nash is getting hot and so is marion. i would love to see kobe get hot now, but it doesnt seem like its happening. anyways, anyone know whats up with chris mihm? why isnt he playing? we should have had him in there instead of cook at that one point, when all he was doing was chucking up shot after shot after shot
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheBlackMamba:</div><div class="quote_post">Kwame's a bulldozer out there. This is lovely, we need this intensity! It's the playoffs!</div> Only bad thing about it is that now he has four fouls, and with this game as tight as it is if they go to overtime the Lakers are going to need Brown. Anyway, either Brown is diesel or the Sun players are really weak, because he is just sending everyone flying to the hardwood. Where has this guy been? Great defense by Kobe to knock the ball away from Bell on that last play of the quarter.
Suns have been raped by the officials since the last 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter, they won't even give D'Antoni a technical foul and it seems like hes been begging for one for the last 5 minutes.
Not rape. This is the playoffs. Every body knows the officials are less likely to call a tick tack foul. Kwame's a monster. He is probably the strongest center in the NBA not named Ben Wallace. He budge Shaq, Shaq can't budge him.
The Suns are becoming the Sacramento Kings when it comes to key injuries T. Thomas, K. Thomas, Amare, all hurt they have basically no size left to patrol the paint. The Lakers need to attack the basket.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheBlackMamba:</div><div class="quote_post">Not rape. This is the playoffs. Every body knows the officials are less likely to call a tick tack foul.</div> It took them 3 times to get the delay of game called, Tim Thomas clearly got nudged out of bounds which is a foul even if its unintentional, Marion got undercut a few plays ago, Nash's 195 lbs alledgedly just managed to send Brian Cook's 260 lbs flying to the floor on an offensive foul, Parker flopped again when Diaw tried to post him up and Diaw legally holding Smush off trying to allow the post pass. I can understand a letting a few of those go by but its just ridiculous how bad these officials are.
For all the crap I've been saying about Smush Parker. He has shown up on both sides of the ball tonight.
