You don't have too many games that can be labeled as "laughers" during the playoffs. Game 2 between the Lakers and Suns was one of them. It really seemed that the Lakers thought the Suns would let them stay close just because they had Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and they were the Lakers. They didn't come out with energy, Kobe decided to becoming "passing Kobe" instead of "shooting Kobe" and none of the Lakers could make anything. And since they weren't trying very hard on the offensive end, they decided they may as well not give a hoot about the defensive end either.
The Suns scored 68 by halftime and ended the game with 126 points. The Suns won every quarter. They shot 54% from the field and over 42% from three-point land. They beat the Lakers in every category - both offensive and defensive.
Every Suns starter scored in double-figures but only Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa scored more than 20 points. Shawn Marion played the most minutes with 33. Steve Nash only had to play 25. That means he played about a half of basketball - during a playoff game! Who needs to rest their starters before the playoffs when they can rest them during the playoffs?
A couple of things to note about this game before I turn it over to the much smarter readers of Bright Side of the Sun:
- There was a smattering of cheers when Kobe went down with an ankle injury in the 4th quarter. I wish that wouldn't happen. It's a guy who got hurt while practicing his profession. Do you think Mavs Moneyball readers would cheer if I sprained my hand in some freak typing accident and couldn't write bad things about Dirk anymore? Wait, that was a bad example...
- Did anyone else see the alley-oop between Steve Nash and Shawn Marion where he was actually looking at Shawn, then at the basket, then at Shawn, then at the basket and finally threw the ball to for a half-court alley-oop when Shawn broke towards the rim? They showed it in slow motion a couple of times. It was AWESOME!
- You don't see too many teams where a guy will steal the ball, have a clear breakaway and then will pass it to his teammate for an awesome, posterizing breakaway dunk. You see it a lot where there is 1 on 2 and the guy is passing to get the better shot but when Leandro Barbosa passed it back to Shawn Marion for what almost seemed to be a Statue of Liberty dunk, that was just awesome.
- Not to make fun of an injury, but how many people think Kobe may just pack it in and say the ankle is too hurt to play any more games?
- Have you tried my Doug Collins drinking game yet?
- Why is it I'm the only guy driving around with two Suns flags on my car? Do people not get interested in the playoffs until the 2nd or 3rd round? When the Suns get to the finals and everyone has the flags out and is painting their car, is it ok for me to yell out the window and throw purple and orange (washable) paint on them for being bandwagoners?
- If you want to know what the Lakers' problem is, look no farther than the Box Score in the Assists category. Steve Nash: 14 assists in 25 minutes; Lakers: 16 assists in 240 minutes