Yup, leave it to me to rain on the rain parade, but I simply can't take too much from that win. Sure, it was fun. A lot of fun to beat the Lakers, but let's not delusionally assume that somehow the Suns have catapulted themselves into the top-tier in the West.
We know that the Suns have a lot of shooters and we know that there are some nights when those shooters will kill teams, but taking 40 three-point shots is not how you win a playoff series. Great win, but just like it's a mistake to overreact to some losses, it would be a mistake to take too much from this one.
We know the Suns are going to put up points and there will be fun nights like yesterday, but you better believe that Gentry and the rest of that team understands they are going to have to rebound the ball better to really win games that matter. As in four-out-of-seven games against the same team in spring time.
Link time
Phoenix Suns With Guns Blazing Down Los Angeles Lakers, 121-116 - SB Nation Arizona
It was a great win for the Phoenix Suns over the Los Angeles Lakers. Any win for Phoenix over the Lakers is a great win. But when it takes a franchise-high, 22 three-point shots, you don't exactly have a recipe for success. It was just one of those games where the guys made shots and the Lakers, for whatever reason, refused to defend the three-point line until it was too late. The vast majority of the Suns threes were wide open attempts.Video: Phoenix Suns Drop 22 Threes On The Los Angeles Lakers - Desert Dirt - SB Nation Arizona
Reading through the post game quotes from both sides, you get a mixed bag of reaction. The Suns certain credit "hot shooting," but also seemed to say the style of play and fast pace created the opportunities. The Lakers, or at least some of them, basically are saying, "Whatever, they got lucky.But to really answer the burning question, "Great (lucky) Suns shooting or poor (lazy) Lakers defense?", we need to check the tape and fortunately YouTube provides a video of each one of the Suns' 22 three-point shots. Watch and learn.
Remember when these guys called the Suns a "speed bump"? Oops..
Lakers 116, Suns 121: An Amber Alert Is Out on the Lakers' Defense - Silver Screen and Roll
The problem was that the concept of guarding outside shooters seems to have been eliminated from the Laker game plan. Every Phoenix possession seemed to start with Steve Nash penetrating past Derek Fisher and forcing another defender to collapse. That set in motion a series of quick passes that ended with a shooter catching the ball outside the arc with no Laker within a city block and five seconds to line up a shot. Goran Dragic buried three triples, and typically that would be a game-high total. Tonight it was only good for fourth-highest on his own team. Channing Frye hit four, Hedo Turkoglu hit five (WTF?! TRADE EVERYONE!!!) and Jason Richardson was unacceptably allowed to hit seven. There were plenty of open looks that just rimmed out, too. All credit to the Suns for generating those shots and knocking so many of them down, but the Laker D was just an epically fucked-up disaster.
More game coverage
Suns 121, Lakers 116: Phoenix Sets Franchise Three-Point Record In Win - SB Nation Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Lakers used Sunday as a day of rest for their defense, and as a result were handed their second straight defeat, by the hot-shooting Phoenix Suns, 121-116 at Staples Center.SUNS: Postgame Quotes: Suns @ Lakers, Nov 14, 2010
"They had a good shooting night. A historical shooting night, not just a good shooting night. That doesn’t happen very often, as we all know, and it happened tonight. Too bad, and you got to move on and understand that we could have done something different, but I think you live with a team shooting 40 [three-pointers]." - Pau Gasol
David Arquette Is Handling Things Well - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
Here's David Arquette at the Lakers-Suns game Sunday night: He seems to be doing well and does not at all seem to be desperately grasping for attention. He is certainly a 39-year-old adult, that much is sure.Phoenix Suns defeat Los Angeles Lakers behind 3-point barrage
Jared Dudley was called for an offensive foul on a baseline drive and lost his balance, falling into Lopez's left knee and spraining it. Lopez will have an MRI exam. "It's a little stiff but I think it's going to be OK," Lopez said. I got a positive checkup on it in the locker room. It was painful, but I'm able to walk it."Lakers lose to long shots - latimes.com
The Lakers (8-2) also had some unsettling medical news, with two players scheduled to visit doctors Monday morning for MRI exams. Lamar Odom was slowed somewhat by a sore right foot, saying it felt like the top of it was burning, and Theo Ratliff continued to be bothered by a sore left knee. "It's been aching, especially in the morning," said Odom, who limped out of the locker room after the game. "But I've been playing a lot of basketball. Hopefully it's just wear and tear. Hopefully there is nothing wrong."Phoenix Suns 121, Los Angeles Lakers 116 -- Live by the 3, die by the 3
"We can’t walk it up the floor against their length," Steve Nash told The Associated Press. "You see Pau against us, it looks like he’s playing with a nerf hoop on the back of someone’s bedroom door. So we had to make them play in transition, spread the floor and make it a game of speed and skill rather than size."Phoenix Suns sorting time for wings
"To be honest with you, it has been hard, because Jason's playing extremely well and Grant's playing great," Gentry said. "We'd like to have JD (Jared Dudley) on the floor more. Josh (Childress) seems to play better every game. It's hard to have four guys in two spots. Ideally, you'd have three guys in two spots. It's a good problem to have."
azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Orange Slices - PaulCoro - What a night in L.A.
"We're just so (inappropriate term) small but we fight," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "We tried everything we could to get Pau moved out. That guy's so (inappropriate term) long and he's a lot stronger than anybody thinks he is. We don't have that real physical guy that can be physical with him."
Poor Amare. Not used to being on a crap team and doesn't know what to do ...
Amare Stoudemire Criticizes Teammates After Knicks Lose Fifth Straight To Rockets, 104-96 - SBNation.com
It was the Knicks' fifth straight loss, and the competition hasn't been all that fierce (Philadelphia at home, at Milwaukee, Golden State at home, at Minnesota and Houston at home).Afterwards, Amare Stoudemire had some choice words for his team's effort. Via Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times. "I'm not sure if it's the fact maybe a winning mentality has never been here. I'm just not used to it. I'm used to winning. I'm used to talking about winning and having that confidence toward winning. You just can't have guys complacent and comfortable with losing."
[...] "I don't understand why we're not playing with the urgency. I'm not used to that. We're not playing like we're on a four-game losing streak, now five. We don't have that sense of urgency. It's almost as if it doesn't matter."
For those needing a dose of Scott Howard this a.m.:
For The Arizona Cardinals The NFC West Was Lost In The Offseason - SB Nation Arizona
The Arizona Cardinals should be winning the NFC West this year. But they're not. It's not excusable.