No Surprises Here, Suns Drubbed by Lakers 108-88

All the talk comes down to this – the Suns were killed by the Lakers 3-pointers -not by Kobe Bryant’s scoring. While he clearly drew in the defense – Kobe only knocked down 26 points.
For a look at the numbers, just go to this handy link:
http://www.sunsstufft.com/2009-articles/december/getting-treed-by-las-threes.html
From the folks at www.sunsstufft.com.

I’m going to agree with fedres from the first comment (reply isn’t working for me). I thought you guys played a good game, and that we were unusually hot from the perimeter. If we were a bit cooler (like we usually are) and you guys are a bit warmer (like you usually are) it’s a much different game.

…but we had the door slammed in our face. If we had cut the lead down to single digits, they would have panicked. Instead? We fell back behind by 20. We really could have used Amundson. He’s not afraid to pick up the foul, and he gets six hacks/bumps before he gets disqualified. We needed him badly.

We also could have used Barbosa. The pace of the game was completely in favor of the Lakers, and Barbosa could have rescued us. Given, it was the second leg of a back-to-back and the energy wasn’t there. However, the lack of execution on the offensive end was just too much.

Rebounding also killed us.

Important: Did anyone else notice how Robin Lopez shut down Bynum during that stretch in the fourth quarter? This could be the answer for the next two against the Lakers.

Until then, though, bring on the Mavericks.

While the Suns were getting mugged keep this in mind. The Lakers have been playing the triangle together for 3 years with the exception of Artest. The Suns have not. I was impressed with Phoenix in a lot of areas. 1. Nash is the best PG in the NBA hands down. 2. Amare shoots very well from the outside for a big man. 3rd. I’m impressed by your bench and you have injuries. I think the Suns will get better. They are a scoring machine but play poor defense. Just like the Lakers did 2 years ago. I’ve heard rumors that some want Amare gone but if you keep this team intact have a big man learn to play the post play some D, and play inside out basketball you’ll be a very good team.

Suns played too soft, afraid of the lane. Only 11 attempts from the line?

Much has been discussed about the amount of Laker home games vs. the amount of Phoenix away games so far this season, in this article and thread. I have to concede that the schedulers gave Phoenix no favors placing 2 away Laker games on the end of back to backs. True, the Lakers have had a lot of home games so far, and Phoenix has had a lot of away games. As a Laker fan I am not too concerned for 2 reasons (with regards to Phoenix). The first reason involves the quality of the teams the respective teams have faced. The combined record of Phoenix’s opponents this year has been 199-219 for a 47.6% win/loss percentage. The Lakers opponent’s record has been a combined 187-190 for a 49.6% win/loss percentage. If you look at the number of teams LA and Phoenix have had to face that have had records above .500 (teams likely to give a good fight), Phoenix has faced 7 opponents out of 21 games, meaning 33.3% of the teams Phoenix has faced have had a winning record. As far as the Lakers are concerned, 10 opponents out of 19 have had winning records (56.2%). If you throw out Phoenix vs. Laker head to head matchups, only 5 out of 19 of Phoenix’s opponents have had winning records (26.3%), vs. 8 out of 17 for the Lakers (47.1%).
 
My second reason why I am not concerned, is that last year the Lakers had the best road record in the NBA. We are not talking about Portland, Denver, or Cleveland here (teams that feast on home games and sweat out the roadies). Also the Lakers this year will hit the road with the added benefit of an all star caliber center that was missing most of last year. This is no excuse for last year’s performance (best road record needs no excuses). This is only to note how they are potentially better this year. Furthermore, it is no coincidence that all three of the Laker’s losses (this year) came while Pau Gasol was injured. Again this is no excuse, as the best record in the NBA needs no excuses. This is only to note how potentially better they will be for the remainder of the year.
 
As I said earlier, the schedulers did the Suns no favors by placing 2 away Laker games on the end of back to backs. But like the future away schedule, I am not sweating the 2 upcoming roadies in Phoenix. This is because the Lakers simply match up well with the Suns. The Sun’s matchup problems start in the front court. I would argue that right now the Lakers have the strongest front court in the NBA. Offensively they are very efficient; they pass the ball well and rebound. On defense they are long, athletic, move their feet and rebound. The Sun’s offensively feast on the pick and roll, but the Lakers’ bigs rotate well. The Lakers’ big’s athleticism prevents the Suns from running them off the court. Furthermore the Sun’s center is a 3 point specialist and their power forward is in love with 16 foot jumpers. This creates 2 big problems: one is that these are low percentage shots with a small chance of an offensive rebound. Second, outside jumpers result in few fouls. Do you really think the foul disparity is a result of some conspiracy here? The Lakers power inside game combined with the Suns big’s love for outside jumpers inevitably results in a disparity of foul calls. If you want more foul calls, attack the basket.
 
Oh yeah, that is just the front court, now add Kobe Bryant to the equation. Things get a little better for the Suns in the back court, but not much. Steve Nash is a great offensive player, but his favorite play is the pick and roll (a play that the Lakers cover well). Defensively, he is just plain awful. If Derek Fisher is a bad defender (he is, but is playing fewer minutes), Steve Nash is worse (but is playing more minutes). Both are old, but as I said earlier, the Lakers can D up on the Sun’s favorite play. Also if Derek Fisher gets beat, the Lakers can rely on strong interior defense to back him up. Steve Nash and the Suns. . . not so much. Jason Richardson is a good SG, but he simply does not match up well with Kobe.
 
Put simply the, Lakers squad seems designed to expose weaknesses in the Suns roster. For the Suns to win is seems that the Lakers would have to fall in love with the 3 point shot and forget to pound the ball inside (something they have done in the past).
 
When all is said and done, given that the Suns and the Lakers play in the same division, they will have virtually an identical schedule. Maybe you might want to say that the Suns have a harder schedule because they have to play 4 games against the Lakers, while the Lakers have to play the same 4 games against the Suns. I think we can exclude those games for this comparison. The gist of this article and thread seems to be that the Lakers easy schedule means that they are really worse than their 16-3 record reflects, conversely this article and posts seem to imply that the Suns are better than their 15-6 record. Projected out over the season this would leave the Lakers with a 69-13 record, the Suns would have a 59-23 record. While I think the Lakers will fade, a bit, I would not at all be surprised with 65-67 wins. I would also not be surprised with the Suns ending at 59-23. In the end I pretty much do believe that the team’s current records pretty much will reflect the overall season outcome.
 
Matt