This has the potential to be a very entertaining series. It will hinge on Tempo and the Gasol/Amare match up IMHO.
The Suns will certainly not be able to drive the interior like they did against the Spurs and get lay-ups. But LA has a weak perimeter defense and the Suns should get open looks. If they hit them at a good clip they can win. Some very interesting match-ups. Nash/Fisher, Richardson/Artest and Frye/Odom. The suns can push the tempo and try to beat Gasol, Bynum and Odom back. I assume Hill will guard Kobe, so that is of course a big plus in the Lakers favor. The LA bench might be worse than the Spurs so that advantage shifts to the Suns. If they can run LA, Hit the 3’s and the bench erase the leads the starters give up and leave them fresh for the 4th quarter that is what it will take for Phoenix to beat the Lakers. Otherwise the Lakers superior talent will win out. Either way it should be close and entertaining (I hope).
Coaching might also be very fun to watch in this series, the Zen Master vs. Gentry whom has impressed the heck out of me.

Do the regular season Phx/Lal games give any any indication of how this will play out? You would have to only look at post trade deadline games, since the Suns only turned it on after Amare got his head right. And then the Lakers went into a late season funk as they got bored with the regular season.

They played most early in the year when the Suns where in a funk.

But you bring a point I forgot about, team chemistry. The Lakers have been off and on this year, the Suns seem to all really like each other. Artest could allways explode, in a bad way, and hurt his team.

If the Lakers struggle I think that could be an issue. PHX seems to have better leadership and can withstand adversity better.

Another thing I forgot about is Lopez, if he can play that will be huge. Another big and six fouls even if he is not up to par. But if he plays like he did in spirts it opens things up for Amare big time.

Go Phoenix.

Go Lakers

go mavs

Lakers in 6.

I'll be rooting for Phoenix, but I'm not holding my breath that they'll win. 'Cause they won't.

The fact that Kobe/Lamar/Fish remember the 2006 and 2007 playoffs when they were eliminated by Phoenix does not bode well for Los Suns.

The only thing going for the Suns is their confidence which will definitely take a backseat once they realize that the Lakers have homecourt advantage.

It wouldn't surprise me to see this going to 6 games, but I think it will go in 5.

Its that time of the year and Kobe smells the finals.

This series hinges almost completely on Phoenix's jumpshooting, particularly from three. If they don't run every chance they get (see: OKC) and hit 3's in their halfcourt offense, this will get ugly quick.

The Lakers are stronger and bigger but when you look at one on one matchups, it gets interesting. Fisher cannot stay with Nash/Dragic, he will just try and mug them.

GO SUNS!

Go Nash and Kerr... Every other Sun can go to hell.

Richardson did not score 20 points against the Lakers in any of their four games this season. He averaged 8.8 points and shot 31% against them.


if this happens again, this will be over in 4 or 5.





[This message has been edited by Simplebay (edited 5/13/2010 4:46p).]

I'm a huge Phoenix fan solely because of Simplebay and how he has taken a giant dump on this forum.

Is that the series where Kobe quit on his team? Oh wait, not specific enough. Was that the series where Kobe quit on his team by not shooting in the 2nd half of a game 7?

Puddy....you want me to say it?

will that make you feel better?

ok, here goes....pay attention young one.....


the suns will neverrrrr beat the lakers in a million years

happy??