Suns beast Lakers in Game 2 (PHX 2-0)
All the buzz around this series has been the Suns failures in Game 2’s the last few years. They’ve lost five straight Game 2’s including four out of five at home. It’s not a useless stat because that recent history is something this team has to move past. They did that tonight in a big way. The Suns ran the Lakers off the court in a 126-98 clinic.
After the sluggish start and poor shooting in Game 1, the Suns needed to establish their tempo early and that was the case. Steve Nash found Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire on dives and pick n’ roll plays and the Suns were looking sharp. James Jones got a block. STAT blocked a Kobe dunk and he took a Lamar Odom dunk attempt out of the air (Doug Collins screamed ‘Oh my!’). Toss in a couple threes by James Jones and Raja Bell and the Suns were rolling. Leandro Barbosa, who accepted the Sixth Man Award before the game, started slow but hit a jumper and a three to end the quarter. They dropped 31 in the first quarter and firmly established the tempo.
With Nash on the bench to start the second, LB continued to attack. Shawn Marion also got a couple easy buckets and when Nash returned the lead had grown from five to 14. Nash continued to push it. Push it real good. He tossed a halfcourt ally oop to Marion. STAT got a couple more dunks. LB scored 12 in the quarter before picking up his third foul. Nash finished the half with 11 assists. Three scorers were in double figures and the Suns took a solid defensive effort (47 pts, 37% FG) and a 21-point lead into halftime.
One area of emphasis for Lakers coach Phil Jackson was to prevent 30 point quarters. The Suns dropped 31 and 37 in the first half. Kobe had a good half with 13 but the Lakers only scored 47 points. The game was over without a strong third from the Lakers and a big effort from Kobe.
The Lakers were more aggressive offensively but their defense remained awful. The Suns continued to get layups and open threes. Lamar Odom couldn’t take it anymore and fouled Steve Nash hard, mugging him about 80 feet from the basket. Nash had a WTF look on his face and kissed the guns in front of the bench. After a few turnovers (only 1 in the first half) Steve Nash settled the club with a couple layups and back to back threes. Raja Bell pushed the lead up to 28 with a three and breakaway reverse. The fourth was cautious garbage time, especially after Kobe came back only to turn an ankle. Everyone scored for PHX and there was much rejoicing.
Positives
Team bounced back from an uneven performance with a dominant win. Six scorers in double figures with strong floor games from Boris and KT.
Concerns
Raja turned an ankle on a ref’s foot at the end of the third.
Thoughts
This is what we wanted. This is what fans wanted to see after the Suns had to comeback to win on Sunday. This is also what we wanted to see after Dallas and San Antonio lost at home. We needed to see the running and gunning Phoenix Suns smack the Lakers. Now the Lakers should know that they will lose and no amount of past success, points from Kobe or tedious game planning is going to work. The Phoenix Suns are clearly the better team and they will not underestimate the Lakers.
Now the series shifts back to LA. The Suns will be happy with a split but should go for the sweep. The Nuggets and Spurs is going to be a war. The Nuggets have already won on the Spurs’ homecourt and I seriously doubt they’ll give away more than one in Denver. That series should at least go six and if the Suns sweep or win in five they’ll get at least three days rest between series. Playoff rest is far different than regular season rest. After running with the Lakers, their legs can rest up for a battle with the Nuggets or Spurs, with plenty of time to prepare. A big part of the postseason is creating your own breaks. The Suns can force the issue by quickly disposing of their first round opponent, when none of the other Western top seeds appear ready to do.
Original post by Hersey and software by Elliott Back
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