Can the Suns beat LA this year?

[rordog]

Say theres the matchup of Phoenix and LA in the playoffs this year.... after losing Amare, do you think the Suns could beat LA?

Some advantage points/wins for PHX in the lineups:
- Nash would take care of D-Fish on both ends of the floor.
- They can play GOOD defence on Kobe with the combination of Hill/Dudley/Childress, as we saw in the Conference Finals (Except Kobe was just unstoppable in some of those games).
- Hopefully Lopez can guard Bynum even a bit..
- Hedo Turkoglu can really disrupt the Lakers with pick and roll situations as we saw in the Orlando series, except now he has to find a replacement for Dwight Howard.. not too sure who he'd run it with.

Problems:
- Probably the most frightening... How are Phoenix going to stop Pau Gasol?! Warrick/Hedo at the PF isn't even competition for Gasol and even with zone defence he will still be demanding double teams, who due to his size can shoot over them. I don't know what is going to happen there.
- Kobe Bryant, enough said.

What do you guys think?

[BurningHeart]

We could have beaten them this past year if we knew when to stop doubling Kobe. We lost because people like Artest, Farmar, Fisher, and Vujacic went off.

[sunsfever68]

We hurt ourselves in game 5 letting them get such a big lead, not winning one of the first two games in LA and then in game 6 we were down too much to overcome it. La has more talent we had more heart. Kobe just made some incredible Kobe Bryant shots. However you know if you play basketball that he was still IN RHYTHM in the sequence of his shots. Aka that ridiculous looking shot he made over Frye and HIll to put the lakers up 5 in game 6 wasn't as HARD AS IT LOOKED. Reason being he made that one swift move in one motion he didn't even see or feel the defenders. that's what makes a legendary special.

This year we cannot contend with their size and length and we'd get smashed on the boards. They might add Barnes too which would be a solid addition for the Lakers.

[WTFsunsFTW]

We should have ran a 4pt box zone and just had Hill shadow kobe all night. I think we relied on the whole team zone defense concept too much and they finally started making their 3s and we didnt secure enough boards

[MaryvalesFinest]

Depends on what lineup they roll with, if they play a lineup of

C-Frye
PF-Hedo
SF-J-Chill
SG-J-Rich
PG-Nash

They would run them out of the gym, but if they start Lopez and Hill that will slow them down and make them more of a traditional team rather than smallball.

[rordog]

We could have beaten them this past year if we knew when to stop doubling Kobe. We lost because people like Artest, Farmar, Fisher, and Vujacic went off.

Yeah we were so close to beating them... Artest's buzzer beater was the moment of the series BUT i'll agree with you that Artest hurt PHX and Fisher at times... but all Farmar did was hit a couple of 3's here and there and Vujacic?! all he did was let Dragic burn him, which helped the Suns.

[DirtyDez]

Kobe killed us and he was playing with a broken finger and bad knee. If he's 100% and we don't get help in the rebounding department then i don't think we can beat em. Artest would handle Turk pretty easily and we'd have nobody to put on Odom/Pau.

[Christine-In-AZ]

Of course there are so many questions...Which Hedo shows up? Is this the same (or better) Childress that left the league 2 years ago? Can Warrick play "poor man's Amare" more than just here and there?

But for me the biggest variable is- Can Lopez stay healthy and move his game up at least one peg to become a first rate, 25-30 minute NBA center? If he can, I'll give the Suns least as much chance to upend the Lakers as we had last season. ....what month is this?

Still, I think it's going to be serious uphill challenge even if all the various slot A's and flap B's mesh perfectly.

yours truly,

~ Cap'n Obvious

[RaisingArizona]

God, I hope so.

[Solar Sun]

Phx Suns out: Amare
Barboso
Amundson (most likely)

Phx Suns in: Warrick
Turkey
Chill

Lakers out: Farmar

Lakers in : Ratliff
Blake
Barnes (possibly)

Lakers replaced their crappy players with better ones. The Suns replaced one of their best players with roll players. I'll be surprised if anyone, including the Heat, beat the Lakes in 7.
Jury is still out on the Suns. With all the new pieces , and Amare gone, the Suns just might be better because of it. It's a long shot, but you never know.
At least NFL is here soon. Go 49ers! Time to unseat those dirty red birds this year.

[Purple Palace]

Answer to the OP: No.

and..49ers? lol..please. Go Cards

[DirtyDez]

Lakers replaced their crappy players with better ones.

+1

The Suns replaced one of their best players with roll players.

+1

I'll be surprised if anyone, including the Heat, beat the Lakes in 7.

Disagree. Bosh can limit (but not stop) Gasol and Kobe/Artest cannot limit a prime Wade/LBJ at all. Mike Miller is a better 3 pt shooter than anyone in LA and Big Z can at least put a body on Bynum (if Bynum is even healthy). Heat in 5.

Go 49ers! Time to unseat those dirty red birds this year.

GTFO

[Azsports77]

The Lakers are going to try and make it to the finals a fourth year in a row they will definitely have injury problems again because they are going on four years without a full off season of rest and that does have an effect even if its the LAkers . I see them being even more vulnerable to injuries than last season!

[Christine-In-AZ]

Phx Suns out: Amare
Barboso
Amundson (most likely)

Phx Suns in: Warrick
Turkey
Chill

Lakers out: Farmar

Lakers in : Ratliff
Blake
Barnes (possibly)

Lakers replaced their crappy players with better ones. The Suns replaced one of their best players with roll players. I'll be surprised if anyone, including the Heat, beat the Lakes in 7.
Jury is still out on the Suns. With all the new pieces , and Amare gone, the Suns just might be better because of it. It's a long shot, but you never know.

another way it might be processed, Suns-wise...

Role players:
Barbosa replaced by bigger and more versatile Childress
Amundson replaced by much more versatile Turkoglu

Star player:
Stoudemire replaced by...ah? um? Well?... Maybe Hakim's been holding back on everyone.

At least NFL is here soon. Go 49ers! Time to unseat those dirty red birds this year.

Hope you're wrong...but if they want to get it done, the Niner's gotta start beating everyone else, and not just the Cards. Arrrgggg!

[Calvin Klein]

Lakers just added Barnes.

I'm gonna say No. Funny, NBA TV was just showing game 6 of the WCF. And I couldn't stop watching even when I was actually suffering again.

That one we could have taken. A couple of adjustments here and there and it was our series. Tough.

[Calvin Klein]

Matt_Barnes22

Its official I AM A LOS ANGLES LAKER. I wanna thank u for all ur patients and understanding. This is a dream come true!!! Good lookn Kobe
about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

[RaisingArizona]

Barnes needs to learn how to spell.

[JasonDaPsycho]

LA has gotten better players and we have gotten good players playing out of their positions.

So can we beat them? I don't know. It's basketball. When you're hot, you're hot.

[nashrambler13]

Phx Suns out: Amare
Barboso
Amundson (most likely)

Phx Suns in: Warrick
Turkey
Chill

Lakers out: Farmar

Lakers in : Ratliff
Blake
Barnes (possibly)

Lakers replaced their crappy players with better ones. The Suns replaced one of their best players with roll players. I'll be surprised if anyone, including the Heat, beat the Lakes in 7.
Jury is still out on the Suns. With all the new pieces , and Amare gone, the Suns just might be better because of it. It's a long shot, but you never know.

another way it might be processed, Suns-wise...

Role players:
Barbosa replaced by bigger and more versatile Childress
Amundson replaced by much more versatile Turkoglu

Star player:
Stoudemire replaced by...ah? um? Well?... Maybe Hakim's been holding back on everyone.

What are you guys TALKING about? We replaced one of our best players with role players? I'm sorry thats false. You can't call Hedo a role player. He led a team to the finals while the offense ran through him. I'm not saying he's better than Amar'e by any stretch, but he is by no means a role player. That is just false.

The Suns improved when they signed Childress and traded Barbosa. Better defender, ok shooter, good scorer, much, MUCH smarter. We have enough 3 point shooters, and now we have another okay defensive stopper, something we need.

What the crap do you mean they replaced Amundson with Turkoglu?? The Suns replaced an OVER-RATED, soon to be OVER-PAYED Louis Amundson with Gani Lawal. This kid can EASILY replace Lou, even tho he was such a fan-fave.

The Suns replace Amar'e Stoudemire with Hedo Turkoglu a good shooter and GREAT facilitator, AND Hakim Warrick, a poor man's Amar'e who could be better at what Amar'e was best at (P&R). Seriously? I'm not trying to hate on Amar'e, but I am sure that that is easily an adequate replacement and perhaps even an upgrade.

Also, couldn't the Lakers potentially losing:

Farmar (killed us with those LUCKY threes)
Brown (Same as Farmar)
Fisher (One of the better role playing championship PG's EVER? and a clutch killer?)

and only gaining:
Blake (SUCKY defensive player)
Ratliff (who cares?)
Barnes (good signing. ok. i'll admit that, but how much can he actually contribute?)

The Suns can beat the Lakers in a seven-game series. Its still a toss-up at this point for me. Gasol is the real problem, as long as Kobe can be "held" (to 25-29 points. KEEP HIM TO HIS AVERAGE. or in other words, great, but not "OMFG!!!!!! WHAT?!!??!!" great every play. And thats a challenge for sure. We're still contenders people. DON'T LOSE HOPE! STAY WITH US FOR AT LEAS ONE MORE YEAR!

[TXSun]

highly unlikely. they beat us without a heathy Kobe and Bynum. can you imagine when they are healthy? plus they just added a nice piece to the puzzle in Barnes. as of now...NO.