NBA PLAYOFFS: Game 1 - (7) Los Angeles Lakers @ (2) Phoenix Suns l Sunday l 12:30pm l ABC l Series (0-0)

[irish22022]

Payne was jittery too. Wasn't just the ejection. Hopefully he got his playoff jitters out of the way, but I don't mind relying on Moore to help run the ball through Devin Booker for about 10 mins and cut CP down to 20 mpg til next Tuesday or something.

[BobbieL]

If Lakers just hit more of their 28 FTs the game would have been a lot closer. I'm surprised Craig didn't get some more burn, I definitely thought he was going to get minutes to guard some Bron or even AD. Booker with 45 minutes and Bridges with 41 minutes.

They are young - they can handle the minutes this time of year.

[RunDogGun]

If Lakers just hit more of their 28 FTs the game would have been a lot closer. I'm surprised Craig didn't get some more burn, I definitely thought he was going to get minutes to guard some Bron or even AD. Booker with 45 minutes and Bridges with 41 minutes.

They are young - they can handle the minutes this time of year.

I still would rather give them rest whenever we can though. Oddly the altercation and review did give a solid five minute rest. But with b2b games, its tough having two of best players serving up 40+ minutes. I was very glad Johnson was shooting better and driving to the hoop.

[BobbieL]

If Lakers just hit more of their 28 FTs the game would have been a lot closer. I'm surprised Craig didn't get some more burn, I definitely thought he was going to get minutes to guard some Bron or even AD. Booker with 45 minutes and Bridges with 41 minutes.

They are young - they can handle the minutes this time of year.

I still would rather give them rest whenever we can though. Oddly the altercation and review did give a solid five minute rest. But with b2b games, its tough having two of best players serving up 40+ minutes. I was very glad Johnson was shooting better and driving to the hoop.

Schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday -- so he has a day off in between. And sure, ideally Booker and Mikal playing 40+ minutes - but yesterday was a game the Suns needed to win, I think - if they are going to win the series. Booker has been preparing for this for a long time - he is ready. And Lakers might win a game in STaples by 30 and Booker sits out 4Q - not saying it will happen but wouldn't be a surprise if it does happen.

[spanishninja]

They are young - they can handle the minutes this time of year.

I still would rather give them rest whenever we can though. Oddly the altercation and review did give a solid five minute rest. But with b2b games, its tough having two of best players serving up 40+ minutes. I was very glad Johnson was shooting better and driving to the hoop.

Schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday -- so he has a day off in between. And sure, ideally Booker and Mikal playing 40+ minutes - but yesterday was a game the Suns needed to win, I think - if they are going to win the series. Booker has been preparing for this for a long time - he is ready. And Lakers might win a game in STaples by 30 and Booker sits out 4Q - not saying it will happen but wouldn't be a surprise if it does happen.

The game schedule is now worrisome. Originally I thought the limited rest the first three games would be beneficial for the Suns because it might mean Lebron is worn out more easily, but now we gotta be concerned about CP3 on limited rest. bah.

[dmastro32]

The Lakers forum is a comedy read. From “that was the suns best game” to “cp3 is a dirty player” or “if we make Ayton look that good we deserve to lose”

[RunDogGun]

They are young - they can handle the minutes this time of year.

I still would rather give them rest whenever we can though. Oddly the altercation and review did give a solid five minute rest. But with b2b games, its tough having two of best players serving up 40+ minutes. I was very glad Johnson was shooting better and driving to the hoop.

Schedule is Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday -- so he has a day off in between. And sure, ideally Booker and Mikal playing 40+ minutes - but yesterday was a game the Suns needed to win, I think - if they are going to win the series. Booker has been preparing for this for a long time - he is ready. And Lakers might win a game in STaples by 30 and Booker sits out 4Q - not saying it will happen but wouldn't be a surprise if it does happen.

Well the good news is we have reserves that can step in. Johnson having a decent game really helped. Craig is a solid player, and Moore seems always ready to step in. I think we can run some fresh legs where and when we need to. The question is will Monty do that.

[Maze]

I like Craig's hustle, but watching him play man to man defense can be frustrating at times.He has this bad habit of letting guys blow passed him while he trails behind going for the chase down block.Looks spectacular when it's actually succesful, but most times, it's not.He also bites on too many pump fakes.I think his best match up would be guarding Montrez Harrell (sp).We need a guy who can match his hustle & intensity.The Suns have trouble with high effort players like Harrell.He's the dark horse for the Lakers imo.He'll wreck havoc on the Suns if they lose focus.

[SunsRback4Good]

:lol: The Lakers forum is a comedy read. From “that was the suns best game” to “cp3 is a dirty player” or “if we make Ayton look that good we deserve to lose”

I specifically enjoyed one post where someone said " suns role players couldn't play any better". Really? What role players played out of their minds? Payne stunk, crowder shot 30%, cam shot 50%, saric 50% but only took 4 shots, bridges played badly too. I guess they meant Ayton & Booker as " role players" soon to be allstars/superstars which one of them already is.

[suns12345]

I like Craig's hustle, but watching him play man to man defense can be frustrating at times.He has this bad habit of letting guys blow passed him while he trails behind going for the chase down block.Looks spectacular when it's actually succesful, but most times, it's not.He also bites on too many pump fakes.I think his best match up would be guarding Montrez Harrell (sp).We need a guy who can match his hustle & intensity.The Suns have trouble with high effort players like Harrell.He's the dark horse for the Lakers imo.He'll wreck havoc on the Suns if they lose focus.

Definitely agree here. And good call on guarding harrell. That could be good. Harrell hurt us against Dario etc.

[suns12345]

It sounds like from his presser they knew enough about it that Willie Green told him it would only impact his shooting and he could still impact the game in other ways, i'm guessing it is a stinger and it limited his shooting motion and as the game progressed he was able to take some shots, hopefully by next game it's gone

It affected his whole arm though. He had trouble dribbling too, often looking like his arm just stopped working the way he thought it would. He became a liability when he had multiple dribbling issues, and just couldn't shoot the way he wanted. Hopefully he practices some left handed layups and shots, and is prepared to do a ton of left handed dribbling as well. He is a smart player. I am also expecting the Lakers to force Paul to his right, and bringing a double team from that side, or from behind on his right side. Hopefully Payne is ready to play though.

Certainly over the course of the game his ability to dribble improved. So i'm hopeful that improvement continues over the next day and he is fine.

[Preacher162a]

not sure if I love the lack of respect from media and casual fans. I think it could play in our favor since the Lakers seem to be buying into it. AD saying that he lost the game for them, instead of crediting our defense. LaBitch agreeing with that assessment. The way they are talking, it seems to me that we shouldn't even bother to show up for any of the other games. F- them! Best team in the west. Hands down!

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

This was the first time I really believed all season that we had a shot at the championship, despite having the second-best record in the league. I think it's because, in my mind, this team isn't as good as Nash's best teams, all of whom failed to win a championship. But there's one big difference between those teams and this one. Something big and fundamental. There's simply no team out there in these playoffs as good as those Spurs teams were.

If there's one team out there that could compete with those Suns and Spurs teams, I would have thought it was this Lakers team. In the EC, I fear the Nets based on their talent level alone, but otherwise... yeah, we could actually win this thing. And if we won the championship, obviously I'd have to wonder whether my initial premise is true: that Nash's Suns were better than Paul's.

It's an interesting question, actually, how that series would go down. I'll go with what I consider to be the best iteration of the Nash Suns, the 2006-07 team that started Nash/Bell/Marion/Amare/Thomas, with Barbosa, James Jones and Diaw coming off the bench. My favorite was the 7SOL team, and the 2009-10 squad was more seasoned, and TBH I really think the 08-09 team would have won it all if they'd kept D'Antoni at the helm and supposing Amare's eye was never scratched.

Tons of interesting matchups, though. Straight down the list, Nash vs. Paul, Booker vs. Bell/Johnson/Richardson, Bridges vs. Marion. All the other Nash teams had Amare starting at center, and Ayton vs Amare is really something to think about. It's the "central" advantage we have over those teams - Ayton's ability to pound the offensive glass and protect the paint. Though one wonders whether Amare would get Ayton in foul trouble (he got so many and-1's back in the day). Barbosa off the bench > Payne obviously, and Diaw > Saric, but we're much deeper (as those teams never really went more than 8 deep).

I can't say for sure who I would take in that series, but I do know this. Bell would clothesline Booker for sure.

[spanishninja]

Even if we eat them 4-2 the media will be like "Lebron and AD can still turn it on anytime...next season".

not sure if I love the lack of respect from media and casual fans. I think it could play in our favor since the Lakers seem to be buying into it. AD saying that he lost the game for them, instead of crediting our defense. LaBitch agreeing with that assessment. The way they are talking, it seems to me that we shouldn't even bother to show up for any of the other games. F- them! Best team in the west. Hands down!

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[lilfishi22]

Even if we eat them 4-2 the media will be like "Lebron and AD can still turn it on anytime...next season".

not sure if I love the lack of respect from media and casual fans. I think it could play in our favor since the Lakers seem to be buying into it. AD saying that he lost the game for them, instead of crediting our defense. LaBitch agreeing with that assessment. The way they are talking, it seems to me that we shouldn't even bother to show up for any of the other games. F- them! Best team in the west. Hands down!

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

If we beat LA in the 1st round of the playoffs in Booker's first post season appearance, it doesn't matter what the media says lol

[Revived]

Booker was great and made very good decisions with the ball for most of the game.

But in reality, we won this game mainly because of Ayton imo. He had good touch on offense but I’m talking about his defense. Anytime Laker players were driving he was constantly in the paint and made them pause about what their gonna do. This gave other players time to recover for close outs.

If he can play with that type of energy consistently on defense then Suns have a real chance to win the series.

I really hope CP3 is ok. The man’s entire career can be summed up with the phrase “injured in playoffs”. He has awful luck for a first ballot HOFer. I think the Lakers are gonna pressure him in the next game to see if he can dribble or not and then leave his man to double Booker since he probably can’t shoot 3s with that shoulder.

If the trio of Bridges/Cam/Crowder can provide some more scoring then it can take pressure off what CP3 can’t provide in terms of scoring.

[Bogyo]

Booker was great and made very good decisions with the ball for most of the game.

But in reality, we won this game mainly because of Ayton imo. He had good touch on offense but I’m talking about his defense. Anytime Laker players were driving he was constantly in the paint and made them pause about what their gonna do. This gave other players time to recover for close outs.

If he can play with that type of energy consistently on defense then Suns have a real chance to win the series.

I really hope CP3 is ok. The man’s entire career can be summed up with the phrase “injured in playoffs”. He has awful luck for a first ballot HOFer. I think the Lakers are gonna pressure him in the next game to see if he can dribble or not and then leave his man to double Booker since he probably can’t shoot 3s with that shoulder.

If the trio of Bridges/Cam/Crowder can provide some more scoring then it can take pressure off what CP3 can’t provide in terms of scoring.

Fully agreed.