After last night’s game, it is pretty obvious that Phoenix has no chance of winning this series. Not only are they getting man-handled on the glass, but we witnessed Gasol totally outplay Amar’e. It seemed as if Amar’e was confused and had no sense of defense. The disappearance of the Sun’s so-called newly found defense was not their only woe; what happened to Channing Frye? After a spectacular series against the Spurs, it seems as if Frye cannot handle the size of the Laker’s big men. Not only is he shooting poorly but seems to be making careless mistakes. At least Jared Dudley is still stroking it well from the 3-point line.
I was hoping for a fun, exciting Western Conference Finals, but I guess we are going to have to settle for, at most, a 5 game series.
Last night’s game was an indication that the Suns solely rely on two things: pick and roll and three point shooting. Although Hill got it going from mid-range, I don’t consider him a consistent offensive threat. Other than Amar’e and Nash, no one can really shoot from mid-range. This makes it really easy on the Lakers defense. Most analysts have been talking about the Laker bigs. Our bigs not only can shoot the ball from mid-range, but they are just as fast and longer than any Suns big.
Match-up wise, the Lakers are a far superior team. No one can guard Kobe, and no one can guard Gasol or Odom. What they did do a good job of last night was doubling Kobe, but what they did a bad job at was rotating on defense to people in Kobe’s eye sight. This made it really easy for him to get his 13 assists. The Suns bigs, particularly Mr. Unlucky Amar’e, needs to stay in front of the Laker bigs. The Lakers bigs are obviously taller, so all the guards had to do was throw the ball over the defender and Gasol or Odom had an easy looking dunk.
See What I mean?
What the Suns need to do?
Possible matchups the Suns can pull off:
PG- Dragic
G- Hill
SF- Richardson
PF- Frye
C- Amar’e.
This lineup will cause Nash to come off the bench, but it will allow Dragic to penetrate and either score or dish out to an open guy. He has shown that he can be a willing passer and an effective scorer. Fisher won’t be able to guard him also. It’s not probable that Gentry won’t do something like this because that would cause Nash not to start, but he could start Nash and give Dragic more minutes. They should forget about starting Lopez as well. Frye hasn’t been shooting well, but that’s because he comes in when Lamar Odom is in, and Lamar Odom can run him to the three point line. Gasol won’t be as effective doing that. This lineup will be fast and effective.
Recently Gentry told the media that he’s gonna try to let Kobe score 80 and guard the rest of the players. Good Luck to that Gentry.
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