Lakers-Suns

[Goat Milk]

I've watched plenty of film, believe me...I have owned a satellite for many years. Through his career, not just this last couple years, he's played with the likes Raja Bell's, Boris Diaw's, etc's... not exactly rebounding beasts.

Yes but watch Amare go for a rebound now versus 3-4 years ago. The intensity is much greater- he wants the ball more than anyone else- wasn't the case earlier in his career. J Rich and Grant Hill prime time rebounders- if they weren't on the Suns today and you replaced them with Bell and Diaw today, Amare would average about 10-11 rebounds per game.

Anyway i'm exhausted will continue this discussion tomorrow after work.

[boranoki23]

its a bit mismatch ones phil jackson bring bynum-amare, gasol-frye, and odom to j. rich.. its up how the players step up in this game.. and again match bigger the team are more advantage....

[Ashleyfrench07]

Suns win 4-2

[SBR_John]

Another reason the layoff benefits the Suns, according to multiple reports: It will probably allow Robin Lopez(notes) to get off the injured list and back on the floor for the first time since a bulging disk in his lower back sidelined him on March 28. In fact, Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic he'd be "shocked" if Lopez didn't play in Game 1:

"If he's ready to play, there's probably a good possibility that he will start," Gentry said.

This is not to be over looked. Lopez even much less than 100% is a big improvement over Collins. Phx backers, look at playing the ML on the first LA home game. Plus 260ish is just too high. The Suns could easily steal game 1.

[311jmp300boy]

Lakers are 7-2 since acquiring Gasol against the Suns. I like that, and the fact that the Lakers have not been beaten at home, the fact that they have the best closer in the game still, and the fact that tand hey know how to turn it on when they need to.......... the hardest thing for Lakers fans sometimes I think is the fact that they don't turn it on until they have to. By the same token, the game 3 against the Jazz the Lakers didn't play all that great, but had the experience to win. Lakers will win, but much respect to the Suns! Kobe wants revenge and this team is just SLIGHTLY different than that awful team with Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown!

[Wrigley]

Lakers in six games ...IMO

[311jmp300boy]

The Suns must steal game 1 in order to have a chance in this series. If the Lakers win Game 1, Jackson is 47-0 in his career in series after a 1-0 series lead. And if they Suns do win Game 1 it guarantees nothing because the Lakers can win in Phx. Lakers will bring it Monday......... the wager is on the Lakers here folks!

[masr]

Phx cant match size inside..when you run n gun, your bound to have few off shooting nights.
LAKERS can still run and play inside...LAKERS in 5

[cmle123]

i think those support laker over look sun beating laker two year ago in the playoff. What the difference between now then? the sun seem went through a lot change but laker is almost the same team. as who the better coach we still unsure. Alvin can out coach phil jackson if you by judge by last play off.

[lakerboy]

i think those support laker over look sun beating laker two year ago in the playoff. What the difference between now then? the sun seem went through a lot change but laker is almost the same team. as who the better coach we still unsure. Alvin can out coach phil jackson if you by judge by last play off.

huh? suns beat lakers 3 years ago not 2 years ago. lakers are the same team still? was gasol and artest on the lakers then? bynum was a benchwarmer. fisher wasnt on the lakers either. get your facts straight.


covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nba/results/2006-2007/boxscore753586.html

[2daBank]

i think those support laker over look sun beating laker two year ago in the playoff. What the difference between now then? the sun seem went through a lot change but laker is almost the same team. as who the better coach we still unsure. Alvin can out coach phil jackson if you by judge by last play off.

just quit gambling if you really believe this post, not one thing about it is accurate, in fact it is so fukked up i dont know where to begin....ok lets start with it wasnt 2 years ago seeing how La has been in the last 2 finals (get your facts straight), La was a completely different team when suns beat them (but if you dont know this you really shouldnt be gambling), we dont know who the better coach is? are you fukkin serious? once again just go find another hobby....

[KiDBaZkiT]

First of all, Amare's defense has been solid in the playoffs. He's the best PF in the league right now by a mile. KG isn't even top 5 power forwards in the league. Amare, Gasol, Dirk, Duncan, Bosh, are you serious I can go on for 5 more than that probably.

If you believe Amare is nothign without Nash- you need to study a lot more film. In halfcourt sets, Amare is that only player on the sun that gets an iso. Nash only gets iso's when they switch a big man on him. Nash's plays are all through pick and roll. Nash had Amare and Dirk- two of the best PF's in the last 20 years of this league. Amare is the best player on the suns by far. The Suns would be nothing without him. Ur living in the past.

Grant Hill guarded Dirk because Dirk plays like a SF, not a PF. That's why Artest guards Dirk, and not Odom or Gasol. That's why Bruce Bowen used to guard Dirk and not Tim Duncan. You will also see Grant Hill guarding Kobe throughout this series.

I worded my post wrong, what I was thinking is KG is the best PF in the post season right now. KG is a floor general, a leader an intangible Amare doesnt have and is a much better defender than Amare and he has his offense working for him very well right now, he cant get up and hammer one down like Amare but who gives a shit he can stroke a mid range jumper just as well if not better. And trust me I have studied plenty of film and Amare can rarely create his own shot when he isnt getting a crisp pass from steve, hes great a t bull rushing to the hop and using his size on offense to create a shot but hes no iso guru. You match up KG and Amare right now the way both of them are playing right now and I would take KG in a heart beat, Amare dont have half of the intensity or defensive skill as Garnett. Hell I saw Dirk Nowitzki drop 50 pts on Amare in a playoff game just abused his ass and Gasol will do the same, not drop 50 but Gasol is gonna abuse him and shoot 50% or above for the series count on it.

[cmle123]

just quit gambling if you really believe this post, not one thing about it is accurate, in fact it is so fukked up i dont know where to begin....ok lets start with it wasnt 2 years ago seeing how La has been in the last 2 finals (get your facts straight), La was a completely different team when suns beat them (but if you dont know this you really shouldnt be gambling), we dont know who the better coach is? are you fukkin serious? once again just go find another hobby....

My bad miss calculate on the year. 3 year then. still sun took laker out of the playoff. they did it two year in row. Phoenix has taken care of business recently by knocking out Los Angeles in both the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. sun did come back 2006 against laker. laker had 3-1 lead in 2006

[Goat Milk]

Gasol will play well.

Did you just say Amare can't create his own shot? That tells me your not doing your homework because 30% of the Suns half court sets are Amare iso's on the elbow...and that's their bread on butter when the pick and roll is not working- the ball is in Amare's hands at the end of a shot clock, not Nash's.

[Goat Milk]

Lakers 4-2 +475
Lakers 4-3 +285

LB are you going to take me up on any of these?

Tyler Durdan- do you still believe that Amare's points average of 20.25 against he lakers this season shows that they contained him? Man, NBA newbies, so much to learn. Kobe can average 20 pts this series (8 below average), 6, and 6 and he will still be ungaurdable b/c the only reason he'd average 20 (hypothetically) is because of the attention he draws and that teams game plan primarily for him. I guess for you though 30 5 rebounds and 2 assists is a better stat line than 20 points 9 rebounds 9 assists.

BTW, stop looking at stats, they will confuse you. I watch Amare/Suns play a minimum of 50 games per year, ppl on this site make assumption about him after watching him play 50 games total. Watch how many threads ppl start about Amare during this Lakers series- anyone that starts a thread about him is a newbie b/c that means they didn't know shit about him before the series.

Phil is thinking about Amare right now more than any Suns player, I guarantee it.

[2daBank]

My bad miss calculate on the year. 3 year then. still sun took laker out of the playoff. they did it two year in row. Phoenix has taken care of business recently by knocking out Los Angeles in both the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. sun did come back 2006 against laker. laker had 3-1 lead in 2006

\
not sure how you find this relevant for this series, i guess you must have played spurs every game against the suns seeing how they have owned them in the past....what happened in 06 with completely different teams is meaningless

[kobefanatic]

My bad miss calculate on the year. 3 year then. still sun took laker out of the playoff. they did it two year in row. Phoenix has taken care of business recently by knocking out Los Angeles in both the 2006 and 2007 playoffs. sun did come back 2006 against laker. laker had 3-1 lead in 2006

, put everything you own on the suns then, do it like the fat guy on TNT named barkley, to make it better than barkley put your life on it too

[kobefanatic]

lakers were seriously mismatched back then in almost every position except for the SG position, and almost equal between lamar and marion, the other positions phoenix have a clear advantage, smush parker can't even defend shit, kwame brown can't catch a freaking ball to save his life, luke walton is not that bad, although he still sucks, these 3 idiots are the starters for the lakers back then, then the bench lakers got a brian cook who has a wide body that can't even allow himself to bang inside to get a rebound, vujacic was a pesky defender nothing more than that, mihm was injured that time, even though he can't do shit, devean george , some of the lakers player back then aren't even in the league anymore brian cook and smush parker, the rest are just bench player in worthless teams, kwame can't even start on the detroit pistons, devean george only got playing time because of the injuries to the warriors, luke the puke walton and vujacic are getting limited playing time right now with la

[mundane]

i dunno about u guys but ive seen numerous suns meltdown in the 4th qt. and this doesn't bode well for them against a team with the best closer in the planet. lakers already have faced dominant pgs in the names of westbrook and deron williams so nash will have to play out of his mind for him to put his stamp on the games or else we'll see more of what happened in the 1st 2 rounds - contain or counter the pg plays and the lakers bigs and kobe win the games!

suns best chance to win will be game 3 at home. also game 1 if lakers comes out flat but i doubt it. i dunno about the lakers covering all the games as phil is a douchebag ats-wise but ill bank on them winning this series easily. lakers in 5! altho a sweep wouldn't surprise me. i expect odom to beast in this series! payback is a bitch!

[WiseGrumpy]

I read everything and there are some great points, I just want to say that the Suns and Nuggets were the best match ups for the LakeShow in this finals before the playoffs, but the improvement the Suns made on D will make the games a little more interesting but I'm not sure can change the outcome. The Lakers have amazing tools and all of them are playing their best ball, which makes the Lakers the best team on the planet with the best coach and best closer in the game.
I still think this ends 4-1 for the Lakers, but what do I know, the Celtics best the Magic yesterday ...

[pico]

lakers will win game 1 for sure

[migz]

Alot of people on Lakers, I think Suns can steal 1 game at home. Suns are underrated, they are not the team a year ago/2 years ago. I think the Portland series really helped Suns and nobody guessed that the Suns were going to sweep the Spurs. The Suns can win the series, especially when they play defense and can shoot those 3's. imo

[Snowball]

Guys I have to agree that today's KG is not in the top PF's again quite YET.
His knee hyperextension is an injury that doctors say takes a full year + for full recovery.
We can see KG is definitely improving, and there is every reason to believe that in the next couple years he will be among the top PF's AGAIN but he's still not quite 100%. His game has adapted with killer jump shots though and how many of those other tops play his kind of DEFENSE ??
He's on his way to being elite again this is what those who don't understand the Celtics are missing.
It's not about age with KG at all. I promise you he will be a better player over the next 1-3 years than he is now. Especially if Doc or a similar-minded coach from within Celtic Nation is head coach who will protect KG's minutes in the regular season.

Watch for Shannon Brown and Ron Artest to become big factors for LA in this series !
Suns hot streak is going to come to a screeching halt.

[Goat Milk]

i dunno about u guys but ive seen numerous suns meltdown in the 4th qt. and this doesn't bode well for them against a team with the best closer in the planet. lakers already have faced dominant pgs in the names of westbrook and deron williams so nash will have to play out of his mind for him to put his stamp on the games or else we'll see more of what happened in the 1st 2 rounds - contain or counter the pg plays and the lakers bigs and kobe win the games!

suns best chance to win will be game 3 at home. also game 1 if lakers comes out flat but i doubt it. i dunno about the lakers covering all the games as phil is a douchebag ats-wise but ill bank on them winning this series easily. lakers in 5! altho a sweep wouldn't surprise me. i expect odom to beast in this series! payback is a bitch!

wise man. I think both teams win at home. Lakers may win the first 2 at home, and then everyone will be so quick to assume Lakers will close in 5 and that's when I will steal their points

[jjgold]

No feel on this series, might not even bet 1st game, handicapping off layoffs are unpredictable.

[Sawsi]

Lakers in 7. Bank on it.

[jgiun1]

No feel on this series, might not even bet 1st game, handicapping off layoffs are unpredictable.

YEP ditto JJ, learned that hard way with the Magic shitting the bed..WATCHING TONIGHT & laying on the Brew Crew and that's it.

[SRBI]

I think you're making up excuses when in reality you just suck at capping these games. Nothing is impossible.

[in2thethickofit]

Lakers in 7. Bank on it.

Throw your money where you want...

[lakerboy]

Good luck betting against the Zen master. Phoenix is awful on long rest and if they fall behind a game they are done.

Like i have been trying to tell people the suns cant play on long rest because they are a jump shooting team. They lost tonight. They are done. Lakers vs Boston/Orlando.

[2daBank]

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Like i have been trying to tell people the suns cant play on long rest because they are a jump shooting team. They lost tonight. They are done. Lakers vs Boston/Orlando.

lake show/celtics should be a great final...La in 6

[Alfred0]

lakers win

[pennsylvania209]

Just get out of the way Phoenix. Kobe and the gang want to finish this as quickly as possible. They learned their lesson with OKC. Either they sweep or win in 5.

[Goat Milk]

You are all very mistaken and I will come here and congratulate all of you if LA wins in 4/5.

I had LA ML today, and will probably bet LA again next game- LA is going to get mopped in PHX.

[lakerboy]

You are all very mistaken and I will come here and congratulate all of you if LA wins in 4/5.

I had LA ML today, and will probably bet LA again next game- LA is going to get mopped in PHX.

you keep saying that. when i asked you to bet on this earlier today you never responded. i say lakers in 5. your drinking too much suns kool aid- where was amare and nash tonight.


make the bet now pal.