Can Suns Survive One More Day?
Los Angeles Lakers @ Phoenix Suns
NBA Western Conference Finals - Game 6
Saturday, May 29th - 8:40 PM ET
U.S. Airways Center - Phoenix, AZ
Heading Into Game 6: Lakers
It was all so much like Game 6 of the Lakers’ first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a highly important late-series game, the Lakers needed a bucket at the very end of regulation time. Kobe Bryant got the ball on the right wing and launched a jumper that missed. While the ball was in the air, members of the opposing team stood around and watched the ball, mesmerized by the scene and hoping that the world’s best basketball player would miss. However, the job of a rebounder in the final seconds is not to hope for a miss, but to guard against an offensive rebounder in the event of a miss. Against Oklahoma City, L.A.’s Pau Gasol fought through Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison of the Thunder to put back a Kobe miss and win the series for the defending world champions. In Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, the rebounder for the Lakers was Ron Artest, and the Phoenix Sun who failed to block him out was Jason Richardson. That’s the kind of play champions make. The Lakers are still champions.
Heading Into Game 6: Suns
How will the end of Game 5 affect this team on Saturday evening? It’s hard to say. On one hand, the Suns still have to be encouraged by the way they competed. They trailed the Lakers on Thursday night by a 41-25 score midway through the second period, and were playing a horrible brand of basketball. Stagnant in their halfcourt sets and paralyzed on defense, Phoenix allowed Kobe Bryant to get clean spot-up looks for threes and simply failed to react to what was happening on the court. Yes, the Suns cranked up the intensity and crashed the offensive glass with success in the final stages of Game 5, but their hard work - plus their valiant comeback - went for naught when Jason Richardson failed to do his job on the final play of regulation. If the Suns can be more consistent and hold their nerve to the very end, they still have a chance, but the wound of the Game 5 heartbreaker could very well crush their resolve.
Outlook & Pick
In terms of evaluating the raw form of these two teams, the Suns should be favored to win Game 6 on their home floor. The Lakers have clearly regressed from the team that steamrolled the Suns in Games 1 and 2. Pau Gasol is not the same player, and big man Andrew Bynum is simply not much a factor due to the limitations imposed by his injury. The Suns are refusing to give up, and are actually getting stronger as the series goes along. However, the Lakers furnished a championship moment in Game 5, and the Suns - who made the West Finals in 2006 but lost in Game 6 (at home) to the Dallas Mavericks - might have had their psyches permanently damaged by Ron Artest’s late basket. The percentages say the Suns, but the gut instinct says the Lakers will finish this series on Saturday.
Pick: Lakers