Lakers/ Suns: Game 2 of Western Conference Championship

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers exploited the soft Phoenix Suns defense Monday night as they dropped 128 points and won by 21. The saying, “ defense wins championships” is not a myth! The Lakers shot the ball extremely well, but so do most team against the non-existent Phoenix defense.

In terms of handicapping basketball, this had to be one of the easiest NBA picks of the year. The Suns were coming off of 7 consecutive ATS covers and had everyone including the experts riding their bandwagon. Los Angeles crushed the Suns on both sides of the floor as they shot an amazing 58% from the floor that included 8 of 17 from behind the arc. The triangle is a difficult offensive scheme to stop. Kobe Bryant could score in a quadrilateral if he needed to. He dropped 40 in game 1 making a huge statement to the Suns as they decided to single team him all night. The Phoenix coaching staff had better change their game plan if they intent to slow down Bryant who seems to be back at full strength after getting his swollen knee drained during their last series with the Utah Jazz.

Many believe that the key to this match-up will be the performance of Lamar Odom. Odom showed up in a big way in game 1 as he scored 19 points and added 19 rebounds in what turned out to be a one-sided affair. Pau Gasol is clearly the difference maker for this Championship Laker squad. Since his arrival, the Lake Show has been in the Finals in 2 consecutive seasons, and is looking like they’ll make it 3 straight this year. He had a mediocre game for him scoring just 21 points with 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Phoenix seemed to be overwhelmed by the Laker attack, and could not match them shot for shot, especially in the 3rd quarter. Steve Nash will need to step his game up to a new level as he has the only advantage over the Lakers in terms of position vs. position. Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar aren’t nearly as talented as Nash, but they did a tremendous job Monday night in limiting him to just 13 points. Grant Hill looked to be frustrated defensively as he tried to contain Bryant all night. The tremendous amount of work required to keep Kobe contained obviously took a toll on Grant as he shot just 1 of 5 from the field for a total of 7 points. Amare Stoudemire did his job scoring (23 points), but was missing in action on the glass as he pulled down just 3 rebounds the entire game. He will need to be aggressive Wednesday night on the boards if the Suns are to have any hopes of splitting the series in Los Angeles.

Expect another high scoring affair as the Suns like to push the pace, and the Lakers know that they can win at that game. Tune in Wednesday to see if the Suns can bounce back from a bad performance in game 1.

Related posts:

1. Lakers/ Suns Western Conference Championship Preview
2. Western Conference Showdown: Lakers vs. Suns
3. Lakers go to Phoenix to Closeout Western Conference Finals
4. Western Conference Finals Game 5: Phoenix vs. Los Angeles
5. Mavericks host Suns in Western Conference Shootout

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