Lakers vs. Suns: Game 3 Review

A gentleman named Nate Jones writes for The Fanhouse, and I thought his top-ten explanation of game three was right on.

Top Ten Reasons The Lakers Beat the Suns
10) Hustle and Desire: After going down by seventeen points in the first quarter, it would have been easy for the Lakers to stop playing and to get run off on their home floor by the Suns. I mean that's what most people expected to happen in the first place. For the first time in a long time the Lakers actually played hard on both ends of the floor. They ran after every loose ball, contested every shot, and played a physical brand of ball. Last night, guys like Smush Parker left their egos at the door, and just went out and played hard. That's all Lakers fans have ever wanted. If you play hard and lose, fans can live with it. It's when you lose without giving it your all that fans start to get upset.

9) Lamar Odom: No one ever wants to give this guy any credit, but he's the reason they almost won game 1 and definitely a big reason why they won game 3. No, he's not ever going to be a 20ppg scorer. But he is going to score around 15-16 points, get at least 10 boards, and then play great all around defense. I wish people would stop trying to make him into something he's not. He's never going to be a 20 ppg scorer, but he is always going to be someone that fills up the box score in an invaluable way. The most impressive part about Lamar Odom at this point is that he's playing like this despite all of the adversity he has had to overcome this season. Right now he's playing with a bad shoulder and a bad knee. As well, he still has a heavy heart from the death of his infant son. Yet he's still out there giving it his all. You have to respect that.

8) They Ran Their Offense: When most people talk about the Lakers problems they focus on the defensive end. But a lot of the Lakers problems on the defensive end stem from their problems on the offensive side of the ball. When they run their offense correctly, and shoot good shots, it makes it more difficult for teams to run on them. Over the last month or so, it's been hand the ball off to Kobe and watch him go to work. This game they decided to get everyone involved, which helped them on both sides of the ball.

7) Kwame Brown: Did Kwame Brown have the game of his life or what? I've never seen the guy be as aggressive in a game before. Kwame's never really had a problem getting to the rim. His problem has always been finishing around the rim. With is small hands, Kwame is usually the king of air balling open lay ups (Before Kwame, I didn't even know it was possible to do that). Last night, he finally figured out that if he goes up with two hands and dunks the ball, it's pretty difficult for teams to stop him. As well, he actually didn't wuss out after twisting his ankle. And people say it was better for the Lakers to miss the playoffs. Even if they do lose the series (which they probably will), I still think they are better off for making the playoffs. The experience that young players like Brown get playing from playing in the playoffs is too invaluable to pass up.

6) They Controlled the Paint and the Boards: The Lakers have been talking about pounding it inside all series long, and last night they finally did it. On the offensive side of the ball, the Lakers finally decided to exploit match ups. In the post, the Lakers cause many match up problems for the smallish Suns. If the Suns exploit the lack of foot speed, it's up to the Lakers to come back and exploit the Suns lack of size. I mean, the Suns start a 6'7" power forward and a 6'9" center, so they are not very intimidating inside. Pounding the ball inside also gives the Lakers an advantage because the Lakers also have an advantage in offensive rebounding. If the Lakers pound the ball inside and attack the rim, even if they miss, one of their bigs is likely to clean it up. As well, pounding the ball inside increases the likelihood that they will get fouled and have an opportunity to shoot free throws. Look at the Lakers free throw advantage last night. It wasn't because of some conspiracy to help the Lakers win. It was mostly because the Lakers controlled the paint and were aggressive in attacking the rim.

5) They Covered the Three Point Shooters at All Costs: The Lakers tried to contest every single three point shot last night. In this game they were aware of the three point shooters, and chased them off of the three point line. Other than Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire (when his jumper is on), the Suns are a terrible mid range shooting team. Those guys either want to shoot three pointers or get lay ups. So it's almost better to contest a three point shot and then give up a mid-range shot than it is to contest a mid range shot and then give up a three. Especially with how deadly the Suns shooters are from long range.

4) Kobe Bryant: Kobe Bryant had a bounce in his step last night that I haven't seen in a long time. Instead of settling for jump shots, he attacked the rim like he did in his younger days. For a second, I thought we were back in 2003, where Bryant attacked the rim the way Dwyane Wade does today. People talk about Kobe not being a leader, but last night you could see that he has truly evolved into one. He was encouraging players, setting up teammates, and directing the offense. As Sam Cassell said last night: "He might not be Michael Jordan, but he ain't no Harold Miner either. He's the best we've got today." Hating on Kobe Bryant is soooo 2004.

3) They Attacked Amare Stoudemire: Everyone keeps saying that the Lakers can't pound the ball inside against the Suns this season because Amare Stoudemire is back in the line up. As Phil Jackson stated before last nights game, that is definitely an incorrect way of thinking. Amare Stoudemire is a good help defender, but a terrible one on one defender. Amare is the kind of guy that is more worried about staying the game so he can dunk on cats than playing aggressive one on one defense that might cause him to pick up fouls. Plus he's only 6'9". A big guy with long arms and a wide body is always going to be difficult for him to guard one on one. Last night the Lakers exploited Amare's lack of size with Kwame Brown and took advantage of his tendency to roam on defense by finding his man for open dunks every single time he came to help on a shot.

2) They Contained Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa: Barbosa and Nash KILLED the Suns in the first two games. In game 3 it was obvious that the Lakers had game planned well for Barbosa and Nash. First they covered Barbosa with the quicker Shammond Williams. Unlike Smush Parker, Williams doesn't have a tendency to gamble. Gambling for steals on a guy like Barbosa (as proved in the first two games) can be deadly. That's why a more conservative defender like Williams worked out better for the Lakers in this game. As for Nash, their game plan of switch and trapping on high screen and rolls totally threw him off of his game. Usually defenders are always back peddling when they play Nash. In this game, the Lakers were attacking him before he could make a move. Nash's is goal is to get in the lane and cause havoc, but in this game, I can't really recall him getting into the lane more than a few times.

1) They Controlled the Tempo: Outside of containing Nash and Barbosa, the Lakers number one concern should always be controlling the tempo. And last night the Lakers did a great job of it. It's very difficult for the Suns to win games when they are held under 100 points. I mean, if the Lakers hadn't gone completely cold in the fourth quarter of game one, they probably would have defeated the Suns in that game too. Why? Because the Suns are vulnerable when they aren't scoring at a fast pace. Continuing to continuing to shoot intelligent shots, while controlling the boards, and the paint will help the Lakers keep the tempo in their favor.

If they can repeat enough of this in game four, we could be looking at a 2-2 series tie. In a remaining best of three games series...I don't know. Maybe I am starting to believe.

But if they Lakers come out, lay an egg, and go down 3-1...I'm calling them dead in the water.

This entry was posted by VJ, on Sunday, April 29, 2007. You can leave your response.