This Hersey from Ball Club. I’m a special playoff correspondent (or something like that) for the Rising Suns. After a 61 win season, the Suns start the playoffs with a familiar foe in the Los Angeles Lakers. I read some LA sites last night and the LA Times and Kevin Ding’s OC Register blog are running stories about the Suns’ comments on the Lakers from 7 Seconds of Less, which is an awesome book btw. Add in a little trash talk from Amare Stoudemire (who said the series will over early) and the series has a little juice.

(2) Phoenix Suns (61-21) vs (7) Los Angeles Lakers (42-40)
This matchup is one of the better ones in the NBA. The teams are long-time rivals and have met several times in the playoffs, including a seven-game epic last season.

Overview
In last season’s matchup, the Lakers pounded the ball inside and used Kobe as a playmaker. The strategy was successful with a little help from blown calls and an attempt from the Lakers to intimidate the small ball Suns. No such luck this year. Amare Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas are healthy and the Suns have an interior presence on both ends to counter the versatile and active Laker big men like Luke Walton and Lamar Odom. Kobe Bryant added ‘Nash mode’ to his arsenal of offensive weapons this season to good results early. The rash of Laker injuries derailed a promising start and Kobe had to make it rain in the second half just to make the playoffs.

Steve Nash added an edge to his game this year to solidify his status as the NBA’s best leader. Nash’s numbers improved but his playmaking and insistence on an unselfish team culture helped the Suns welcome Amare Stoudemire back into a unit that played well without him last season. The Suns had a delicate mix this season as Amare started slowly then regained All Star form, Boris Diaw’s play and attitude fluctuated, Shawn Marion did everything once again yet got more national attention for his perceived lack of appreciation, Leandro Barbosa has become a star, James Jones got a ton of minutes despite an inconsistent shot, none of the free agents got any significant minutes- all in a year where the motto was ‘Eyes on the Prize.’ The championship is obviously the goal for this group and that focus has kept them cohesive even though the roster is loaded with stars.

Keys for the Suns
Rebounding: When the Suns don’t rebound, they can’t run and that’s how teams slow them down. The Lakers will focus on getting good shots against the Suns so the longer possessions will require good defensive rebounding.

Limit Lamar Odom: Shawn Marion has struggled defensively against Odom when he operates on the block. Marion becomes the Matrix against larger, slower forwards but Odom doesn’t fall into that category. Odom’s shot is awful now that he’s playing with an injured shoulder. Forcing him to settle for jumpers rather than his hooks and floaters in the paint will be important.

Leandro Barbosa: the Lakers have no counter for LB. The Lakers backcourt outside of Kobe is a crapshoot. The enigmatic Smush Parker takes the challenge of trying to score on Nash but he can’t guard him. Jordan Farmar has been starting for the Lakers and he’s a rookie. LB will be facing defenders who can’t guard him and should have a big series, just like last year.

Keys for the Lakers
Kobe, Kobe, Kobe: Once again the Lakers are faced with the choice of letting Kobe loose and asking him to get 40+ to stay in games or asking him to distribute with his teammates questionable scoring abilities. The Lakers haven’t beaten the Suns with Kobe in the lineup this season so neither strategy has worked. However, Kobe saved their season with his scoring outburst after the All Star break.

Ronny and Kwame: This sounds like a show from the WB in the late 90’s, but it’s this duo that has to perform well against a hungry Amare Stoudemire, who has had to wait two years for playoff action. Kwame has had a bad year healthwise but his interior defense is important to the Lakers. Turiaf is the classic energy guy off the bench but has been forced into starting duty of late due to Kwame’s injury problems. These two have to perform well to prevent the Suns from having a major advantage in the paint.

Defense: The Lakers defense has been awful over the second half of the season and that was the reason for their long losing streaks and low playoff seed. While slowing the pace against the Suns may keep the point total down, if their defense doesn’t improve it won’t matter against one the most efficient offenses the NBA has ever seen. The Suns barely missed becoming the first team in history to shoot 50% from the field, 40% from distance and 80% from the line.

Prediction
The Lakers aren’t the team they were last year. The Lakers aren’t healthy, they’ve struggled down the stretch and the only chance they have is to feed Kobe. However in recent matchups, Raja Bell has made him work for shots without getting into foul trouble while countering with good numbers on the offensive end. The Lakers don’t have enough firepower or defense to win this series. Suns in 4.

I rekindled an old personal tradition and made a playoff bracket. Click here to download and print it. Go Suns!

Original post by Hersey and software by Elliott Back

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