The Suns could have been going for a sweep today. But they somehow gave up a 17 point lead and lost to the Lakers on Thursday night. In reading the reports after the game and especially yesterday, it sounds like the Suns know what they did wrong in that game and know how to resolve it for today's game. Now that the Suns have lost, I can actually have keys to the game other than "Do what you did the last game". Here they are:
- Amare needs to stay out of foul trouble - When Amare can be agressive against Kwame Brown, that helps the Suns throughout the game. It's hard to defend when you have 2 fouls in the first quarter and your only thought the rest of the game is, "Don't foul." If Amare can be aggressive like he was in game 2 without being overly aggressive and fouling like he did in game 3, the game is pretty much over at that point in my opinion.
- Get the dang rebound - I don't really mind if the Lakers beat the Suns in rebounds, but when they allow the Lakers to get 18 offensive rebounds, that's a problem. Others talked about the closeness of the game and the discrepancy in free throws. I think it comes down to getting 4-5 of those rebounds from the Lakers so they don't get an extra chance to score.
- Help Steve Nash - The Lakers are going to try and swarm Steve again. It worked for them the last game, so you know they're going to keep with that gameplan. But this time, the Suns should be running toward Nash - not to get the ball out of his hands which just plays right into the Lakers' game plan, but to set picks and get Steve free. By doing this, they can get mismatches and allow Steve to get open again.
- Play with intensity the entire game - I don't care if they have a 5 point lead, a 15 point lead or a 25 point lead. I hope the Suns smash the Lakers into the ground and don't let them get back up. If they have to, they should think about Smush Parker trying to dunk at the end of the game after it was already over. That should tick them off enough to prove who the better team really is.