Phoenix Suns vs Los Angeles Lakers: Game 5

Jason broke the news, and they've also posted it on Suns.com now.

For any mothers on this board: How would you react to your husband leaving you at the hospital with your new baby while he went to play a game? :) I guess if I were a Suns fan, I'd probably be ok with it, but then I've never had the pleasure (if that's the right word for it!) of giving birth myself. I can't see my sister reacting well if, say, for example, her husband had decided to go into the office right after she gave birth to one of her kids. Maybe in the sports world it's different? :)

Time to put away the trash tonight.  Our boys have got to put things away tonight.  Once again they must leave nothing to chance as they face the Lakers at home.  In truth I think we'll be fine, once our 3pt shots start to fall.  I mean they gotta fall sometime right?  I'm actually looking for Bell to play with some passion tonight.   He just had a kid and he sure as hell has something big to play for!!!!  I dont expect a blowout, but I'm certain our boys shall take care of business.

Great start for the suns, but it looks like the Lakers are trying some new things, including posting Nash in the block. Also looks like they may be trying to run with the suns. Kobe's forcing things.

has gone right at Nash twice. Looks like they're trying to exploit Nash's defense. Hmmm... a high scoring game? Probably not the best plan of attack for the Lakers.

Acts like he's dunking to put the Lakers up by 1 every time. I mean, I appreciate going with intensity, but he looks kind of silly when his team is getting smoked by 15.

I was at the game last night and haven't had a chance yet to watch the recording but here's some things that I noticed: 1) I pointed this out to my wife - at every opportunity from warm up to free throws to time outs the Suns were slapping hands and generally doing the man-touching thing that good team mates do. Amare when he was on the bench after 2 fouls was all over the place cheerleading and would leap off the bench when the clock stopped and run out to greet his team mates. The Lakers on the other hand seemed on the verge of fighting with each other. The only Laker that I saw do any of that kind of stuff was Turioff (and that guy played great and would look very nice in Orange and Purple). 2) Were the ref's as horrible as it seemed from sec 215? Clearly they were calling a tight game but boy they seemed to blow a lot of calls - both ways. I don't want to complain about ref's but I HATE when the game is dictated by the guys in stripes and not the guys we pay to see. 3) Odom was a super stud. That guy was the only reason the Lakers were in the game. Getting him his 5th foul early put this game away for good. You have to give him credit for playing that well in a big game. But then again, as I heard someone say why did he only have two 30 point games all season? My answer is #24 not getting him the ball. Turioff played w/ more energy and determination then anyone on the floor for at least a few minutes. There were some rebounds that he just stole from Amare and that's saying something b/c Amare looked totally pumped all game and played great. 4) The crowd was kind of disappointing. I guess I was expecting more from my 1st playoff home game this year. In the 3rd quarter in particular when the Lakers made a push the fans were quiet. I don't know if the crowd feeds off the team or the team feeds off the crowd but the fans are going to need to step it up as well against the Spurs. Maybe its just Lakers fatigue and the same kind of complacency the team gets when playing against an inferior team. In the 4th quarter though both the team and fans stepped it up and when LB hit a couple of 3's and on the back-to-back Nash to Marion lob slams the place went nuts. And before all those plays the fans were already loud and energetic. It sure felt as if the crowd energy infused the team in those crucial minutes. I want to see that happen when the Suns are down though and in a little slump. That's when the crowd needs to come through. Looking forward to round 2! I have either game 2 or game 7 depending on my friends travel schedule.

I was at the game and kind of agree that it was somewhat subdued, maybe because it was basically a done deal that the Suns weren't going to let the Lakers win another game.  Plus there were far fewer Laker fans than at the first 2 games to hassle during the game.

Nash was definitely off last night, but Amare and everyone else played great. I'd rather have Nash have an off night against the inferior Laker team than against the Spurs, so I imagine he will come out Sunday looking very Nashty!

Oh, and I don't have any kids, but if I did, I don't think it would be such a big deal if the new father left for a few hours to play in a playoff game, kind of a different set of circumstances than most people are in.

I can't believe what I'm reading! If I had the opportunity to see the Suns close out a playoff series on their home floor, you'd better believe I'd move heaven and earth to be there I don't care who they were playing!