| 29 May 2010
Ezra from The Purple and Gold Blog and I (Don) breakdown game 5, and look towards game 6...
Ezra: That was INSANE!
Ron has always been one of the key guys to every series for the Lakers. But that was ridiculous! He was both the villain and the hero in a 60-second span.
Ron has always been one of the key guys to every series for the Lakers. But that was ridiculous! He was both the villain and the hero in a 60-second span.
That said, the Suns and their fans will give it everything they've got since it will be the final game in Phoenix. The Lakers better bring the same mindset, intensity, but less offensive drought and defensive breakdowns down the stretch. Odom again, forgot to stay with Frye in a couple of key plays that resulted in two 3s. But a win is a win. A tough win for the Lakers and a tough loss for the Suns. It's hard to bounce back after such a loss, but I don't doubt the Suns will be ready. So will the champs!
Don: Amazing, amazing finish.
The Suns will be ready indeed, but from their perspective I think what Steve Nash said during the first visit to LA stands: there's a very small margin for error.
LA has PHX's "girly zone" figured out. And in my opinion, it's harder to bounce back from a loss like that from a complete blow-out.
Ezra: The Lakers definitely no longer have any problems with the zone D. But don't expect Phoenix to abandon it. It's still their best chance against the Lakers.
The Suns have some veterans in their team that will probably pull out every trick in the book to get the officiating in their favor. But I still can't figure out how the refs missed Dudley's blatant use of an off-arm to fend off Kobe in his layup attempt that got him an and-1. Then to top it off, there are some Suns fans saying that Kobe stepped out of bounds on that final play. I saw the replay but his foot was inbounds. Besides, there was a ref that was 5 feet from the play and never saw his foot touch the line.
However, the Lakers have to clean-up their game in the second half. Much like Game 4, defensive breakdowns and inability to secure defensive boards gave the Suns a chance to get back into the game. They have to remember that Phoenix has the ability to go on a shooting streak in a snap just like they showed the last 3 games. They play a consistent, hard-nosed 48-minute game on Saturday, we won't be seeing the Suns until next season.I thought Sasha and Fish deserve a round of applause for their performance. Those guys did their job on their end. But Vujacic earned more minutes for Game 6.
Don: Fish was fantastic - Kobe sat because of early foul trouble, amazingly enough, it was Fisher who picked up the load.
And Sasha? Who would have picked him to be the guy who steps up to shut down Goran D(T)ragic? Not me...
But that was largely the thematic for Game 5. Lots of guys unexpectedly picked up the load at different times. The climactic point being "Redemption Ron".
I think that the Phoenix fans baying for "unfair adjudication" need to go back and check the game-tape: they had quite a few favourable whistles of their own.
So... game 6: LA will have to be performing at an absolute peak level if they want to put this series to bed, and get an opportunity to get their 16th title.
Phoenix will be eager and their crowd rabid for a repeat-defeat of LA.
LA need to stay the aggressor, and not let the FTs fall too far out of balance. Statistically speaking, that's been the difference in the two Suns victories. Strategically speaking - hitting open shots, deconstruction of the zone... and DEFENSIVE INTENSITY are the keys to LA winning game 6.
Ezra: As Kobe said on his post-game interview, the Lakers cannot continue to have mental lapses. That's been the key issue in every single game the Suns came back from a deficit. Guys were missing defensive assignments or they were too slow on their rotation.
Phil tried to nurse that by employing the adjustments we saw in Game 5, yet we still saw shooters for the Suns getting wide-open looks when they're not supposed to. If ever the Lakers need to play a complete overall game in this series, Game 6 is it.
As for Ron, he would've been called clutch if he had sunk that 3 that would have given the Lakers a 6-point lead to put the game out of reach with less than a minute left in the game. People need to understand that Ron's game and mentality is that of a soldier and not a general like Kobe. His basketball instincts are different in a way that he plays impulsively more times than not. But I applaud him for doing such a good job at fitting into this Laker team even if he still has a long ways to go.
