Sooo….yeah….the Suns are 8-1.
HELL YES THEY ARE!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not that they are 8-1 it’s how they are winning that makes me so happy. All I want is a team that goes out, fights, plays hard, and I firmly believe the rest will work itself out (win or lose).
This brings us to another pivotal game tonight – against the dreaded rival, Los Angels Lakers.
I don’t know about you, but I think the following clip from the movie ‘Dodgeball’ sums up the Lakers perfectly…you’ll know what I mean.
They Lakers are also playing some solid basketball, but they’ve also shown vulnerabilities that I think the Suns can exploit IF they do the following…
1. Rebound
It’s pretty simple, the more rebounds the Suns get the more opportunities they have in transition, the more chances they have to run, the less chances of the Lakers destroying Phoenix on second-chance points, and the more probability the Suns have a chance to win.
Having said that, it’s not going to be easy to do so. The Lakers, like the Suns, are a gang-rebounding team…only they have about 5 legitimate rebounding machines (individually speaking) that get in the right place at the right time.
2. Run
The Lakers are too good a team to try and beat in the half-court. Thus, the Suns are going to need another 30-35 point quarter (or two) to put the Lakers on their heels.
However, part of being able to run is getting defensive stops and rebounding which the Suns have been doing well thus far into the season. If they do those things, they have the ability to
3. Intensity
The Suns have won about 5 of their games just by playing hard, which is absolutely encouraging. Playing hard leads to rebounds, to better defense, and to more opportunities to run. This may sound simple but I can assure you, it is what has killed the Suns in recent years.
With the youth they have, they should be able to put a solid 5 guys on the court at any given time that (if nothing else) will never give up and continually frustrate the Lakers (they are easily annoyed) and swing momentum.
The Lakers are coming off three days rest, so they’ll be ready to play just as hard.
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Hey, this is a winnable game especially with the Suns’ collective confidence riding high. If Phoenix doesn’t get intimidated, or decide they WANT to lose (/vomits), they can pull off upset in Los Angeles today.
