Going into Thursday night’s game, the Suns looked like one of the best teams in the league and the Lakers looked under-sized and injured, but undoubtedly solid. Even before the game, Phil Jackson, in his ritual Philosophy 101 on Fox Sports Net, discussed the rebirth of the Suns. Okay, so scratch that. With the Lakers’ (7-1) convincing 121-102 victory, they also made it clear to the Suns (8-2) that the Suns’ road back to the top of the Pacific Division would have at least one large obstacle…okay, maybe its more like two or three.
1. As we know, despite Nash’s recent renaissance, including his 21-20 game, he is 35. In three months, he’ll be 36. So far, Nash is averaging 17.1 and 11.8 assists per game, but can he stay healthy enough to keep up these numbers? Nash is off to an excellent start, but against the Lakers he had fewer assists than either Jordan Farmar, 8, or Lamar Odom, 7. In fact, in nine minutes, Luke Walton was one assist short of Nash’s total, 5.
2. The Suns have no one to guard Kobe Bryant or even Andrew Bynum. All night, Bryant fed on Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, and Jared Dudley. With his remarkable footwork, Bryant found ways to score again and again, whether it be a jumper, a lay-in, a dunk, a little finger roll. His highlight reel included at least two phenomenal plays where Lamar Odom assisted Bryant on dunks. In addition to Bryant’s 29 points, Bynum posted a ridiculous 25 points, 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks in his first game back (after missing two with an elbow injury). He overpowered Amare Stoudemire and Channing Frye, making their numbers look pathetic in comparison. We all know basketball is more than x’s and o’s and statistics, but Stoudemire and Frye combined did not have half the game Bynum had.
3. The Suns offense of between 2004 and 2007 relied on fast-break offense, scoring in 7 seconds or less, and distributing the ball. To return to that level of play, the Suns will have to out-assist teams like the Lakers as they have typically done over the last several seasons. In their match-up Thursday night, the Lakers won the assist battle 36 to 12.
Game Video
Game Notes
In Thursday’s game, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson did not bring in Shannon Brown until the third quarter. Like Jackson intimated in Philosophy 101, he played Fisher about every minute Steve Nash was in the game, but that did not keep Jordan Farmar or Sasha Vujacic out of the game. Thus far this season, Brown has usually been the first guard off the bench, providing a high-flying, high-speed assault for the Lakers. Thursday, Jackson seemed more intent on integrating Farmar back into the lineup and allowing Vujacic to find his shooting stroke. Despite being one of the last Lakers off the bench, Brown played his usual time and his 10 points were well above his scoring average of 5.6. Is this change in the bench rotation simply a matter of Farmar being healthier or playing better in practice, or is Brown falling out of favor with Jackson?
