The Suns would have been averaging the same or more points than last year if they didn't have a totally new team and start out slow with "only" 104 PPG. They average a little more than 108 right now and if TT puts as much effort on D as he did today until Kurt gets back and we go back to being an above average defense, it will be good enough. The Lakers will not hold the Suns to under 20 points in 2 quarters again. We did lose Joe Johnson who could have scored 30 as our 4th option but now we have 2 who can score 30 and 6 who can score 20. More depth, more ways to hurt teams.
The Lakers would have won this game if they focused more on there inside game. There were also alot of turnovers. But, the Suns played great without Amare and hopefully they can pull away with this series because I would hate to see the Lakers win this one.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wade3 @ Apr 23 2006, 06:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Lakers would have won this game if they focused more on there inside game. There were also alot of turnovers. But, the Suns played great without Amare and hopefully they can pull away with this series because I would hate to see the Lakers win this one.</div>They did focus on the inside game, in the 2nd and 3rd quarter it was alot of Odom and Kwame and others getting those easy baskets. Towards the end the Lakers did there outside game more, and didnt do well defensively.
And just something I want to add for those of you that are talking about Kobe having a worse than usual game. Well, Marion, Bell and the combo of House/Jones also had bad games. Those guys will play better as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ArizonaFan @ Apr 23 2006, 06:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Suns would have been averaging the same or more points than last year if they didn't have a totally new team and start out slow with "only" 104 PPG. They average a little more than 108 right now and if TT puts as much effort on D as he did today until Kurt gets back and we go back to being an above average defense, it will be good enough. The Lakers will not hold the Suns to under 20 points in 2 quarters again. We did lose Joe Johnson who could have scored 30 as our 4th option but now we have 2 who can score 30 and 6 who can score 20. More depth, more ways to hurt teams.</div>They do not have more ways to hurt teams. All they have is jumpshooters. Last year they had Amare, who was a fnatastic low post presence which opened up jumpshots even more. Joe Johnson could also drive to basket and get easy shots.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Apr 23 2006, 05:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They do not have more ways to hurt teams. All they have is jumpshooters. Last year they had Amare, who was a fnatastic low post presence which opened up jumpshots even more. Joe Johnson could also drive to basket and get easy shots.</div>We had some more offense inside I agree, but we're not that bad there this year either. Barbosa is much better at driving to the basket than JJ was with his speed. And with KT, Marion and TT we can score a little bit inside. But you're right, we are more of a shooting team but with 2 times as many guys that can score a lot for us. And an improved defense.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lakaboy42 @ Apr 23 2006, 05:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Damn, there was even proof of that foul where Kobe got hit in the face.Before the hit</div>Big deal, you guys lost by 5, free throws give you 2 points. The Suns probably got more bad calls against them than any other team in the league during the season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ArizonaFan @ Apr 23 2006, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>We had some more offense inside I agree, but we're not that bad there this year either. Barbosa is much better at driving to the basket than JJ was with his speed. And with KT, Marion and TT we can score a little bit inside. But you're right, we are more of a shooting team but with 2 times as many guys that can score a lot for us. And an improved defense.Big deal, you guys lost by 5, free throws give you 2 points. The Suns probably got more bad calls against them than any other team in the league during the season. </div>The end of the game would have been drastically different had they called something there.
yea you guys would of lost by 3 or 4 instead of 5. not so drastic. if laker fans think they can run w/ the suns in a series of 7. you're dreaming.
Yes, then Nash makes the 2 and the Lakers score 2 with 18 seconds left. The Suns and their 91+% free throw shooting make 2 and the Lakers miss those 3's like they did at the end of the game. The Suns won this, that call wouldn't have changed a thing/.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ArizonaFan @ Apr 23 2006, 06:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yes, then Nash makes the 2 and the Lakers score 2 with 18 seconds left. The Suns and their 91+% free throw shooting make 2 and the Lakers miss those 3's like they did at the end of the game. The Suns won this, that call wouldn't have changed a thing/.</div>Well, we have no way of knowing that. A sun missed a free throw after that call, and Kobe did hit a three, so anything could've happened.
There's more of a chance that they would've made their free throws at 90+ percent shooting than the Lakers making 3's with 30% shooting. The Suns won by 5. That foul was no big deal.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ArizonaFan @ Apr 23 2006, 06:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>There's more of a chance that they would've made their free throws at 90+ percent shooting than the Lakers making 3's with 30% shooting. The Suns won by 5. That foul was no big deal.</div>The Lakers didn't even need to foul, you can let the suns run down the clock to about 3 or 4 and get a rebound with 2 seconds left and call timeout.
I am encouraged abour our play, in the early minutes we were missing point black lay ups. It was absolutely horrible then everyone got into the groove [bar kobe] and we played well after it. What's so amazing about it is that today kobe was 7-21 and somehow we were in this game. They've shown me today that they can play with the suns and won't be blown off the court.Go lakers and hopefully we can steal game 2 :rock:And please kobe, play like you did today but add a tad of agressiveness earlier on in the game. That will guarentee he will be good in the 4th.
If you expect the Suns to start missing 3's you are wrong. Also don't expect Odom to have as good of a game as today any other time in the series.
No, Odom was being used correctly. There was no-one on the suns who could stop him, the question is that can odom keep up this consistency? he has since allstar break.Defensively we played well, we just made key errors and they jumped on it. I think we played nash well even though the box score didn't say that. You can see what phil jackson can do for a team.
