Suns finally beat Lakers, regain Division lead
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Beat LA! could well become this season’s mantra as the Lakers and the Suns will probably battle for the Pacific Division title until the end of the season. A much improved Laker team seems a serious contender this year.
After two painful losses to the Lakers (119-98 on Nov. 2 and 122-115 on Christmas Day) the Suns were finally able to beat LA last night at the Staples 106-98.
Only seven players were involved in the game for the Suns but six of them scored in double digits.
Barbosa scored 22 points (8-of-12 from the field) off the bench while Shawn Marion, fresh off his “one-liners only, please” interview with AzSportsHub.com scored 20 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and played a very good game on defense.
As he declared in the above mentioned interview the Matrix is trying to become NBA defensive player of the year. He showed why yesterday.
Nash added 13 points on a poor 5-of-15 shooting effort but delivered 20 assists in guiding the Suns offense to a very good 51.9% shooting (42-81) including an excellent 9-of-18 from 3-point range.
Diaw, replacing Grant Hill, had a very good game, which is a positive sign as the French Forward is trying to respond some of his critics, including yours truly.
A good effort by Boris is what we were looking for, since we already knew he’s talented and can do a lot of things for the Suns. Diaw is a key to the Suns success; his skills-athleticism combination is very tough to handle for any defender in the League.
The Lakers, missing Andrew Bynum (and missing him a lot, actually), shot just 37.9% (36-95) and never had a lead in the game despite having a lot of second chances on offense, since LA grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and the Suns committed a season-high 24 turnovers.
Brown replaced, or tried to replace, Bynum in the starting five and was booed by the home crowd on various occasions. Lakers fans probably prefer to have Bynum on crutches than an healthy Kwame.
Kobe of course, led the Lakers with 30 points but shot just 10-for-22.
It was a good overall performance by the Suns, despite too many turnovers and offensive boards, as the guys from Planet Orange put a solid effort on both side of the floor. Suns passing was especially good (37 assists on 42 field goals).
Phoenix (27-12) now takes a 0.5 game Division lead back home as they’ll face Minnesota tonight (7 PM) at the US Airways Center.
Please guys, don’t lose two to the Timberwolves this season.
Yours truly, Steve Fan
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Posted by Steve Fan
Blogger and Steve Nash enthusiast. Don't get in his way, he'll MVP your ass.
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Hi. I was amazed that according to CBS Sports, Amare Stoudemire is so insistent on being more the focus of the offense that one of the factions in Suns management (read: Steve Kerr) is willing to trade him. the other faction (read: Mike D’Antoni) opposed trading him. I just thought Stoudemire was more cooperative than that.
Well, I’m still interested in acquiring Jermaine O’Neal (because rumors have floated for a while that he might want to leave Indiana), and if Shawn Marion isn’t the Sun who deserves to go, maybe O’Neal could be had with Amare Stoudemire and one other contract, possibly Boris Diaw’s.
No? Then what if the Utah Jazz were willing to trade Carlos Boozer for Stoudemire?
Amare’s attitude has been questioned quite often since he’s the only one believing he could lead this team.
He might not be the perfect teammate but I think he’s a good guy and I wouldn’t trade hime just because of that.
I wouldn’t trade STAT for O’Neil (we could have had Kevin Garnett for him….), for Boozer, maybe.
I belive the Suns are trying to move Marion (and Banks) if they’re able to find someone ready to make a deal.