Write On Sports

The Phoenix Suns have evened the series against the Los Angeles Lakers at 2 games apiece by defeating L.A., 115-106. The Suns lit up the basket with a barrage of 3-pointers, helping to keep the battling Lakers at bay for the second straight game at home in Phoenix. Channing Frye, who could not buy a basket in the previous 3 games, suddenly came to life and did not seem to miss from 3-point range as the Suns seemed to fire at will, at one point scoring 6 straight baskets of 3-pointers.

This Suns’ victory came about despite a 38-point performance by Kobe Bryant who kept the Lakers close with a 3-point barrage of his own.  In a post-game interview, however, an understandably intense Bryant continuously commented that it was the Lakers’ lack of proficient defense that caused them to lose this game.  If the Lakers are to get past the Suns and into the Finals, they will have to step it up on the defensive end and be quicker on the boards and not let the Suns’ bench score 54 points as they did in this contest.

Game 5, which is a must-win game for both teams (but more so for the Lakers as Game 6 is in Phoenix, where the Lakers seem unable to win anymore), will be played on Thursday evening at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It should be a war, as both the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers will be battling for control of the Series, which is now at 2-2.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

The Phoenix Suns, behind a 42-point performance by Amare Stoudemire, drubbed the Los Angeles Lakers 118-109 to pull within 2 games to 1 in their best-of-7 series.

The Suns, playing in front of their home crowd, had a much better game than their two previous playoff losses to the Lakers. Using a zone defense, the Suns created problems for the Lakers’ offense, managing to outscore them in the 2nd and 4th quarters. Defensively, the Lakers ran into foul trouble, with Lamar Odom, a key figure in the first two games, fouling out in this one.

Game 4 will be played on Tuesday night, again in Phoenix, and is a pivotal game in this series. Game 5 is Thursday evening in Los Angeles, so the Lakers would love to go back home with a 3-1 lead in the series, rather than tied at 2 games apiece.

This has become quite an interesting series, as was expected.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

The Los Angeles Lakers are now two games away from their 3rd straight trip to the NBA finals, defeating the Phoenix Suns 128-107 in Game 1, and 124-112 in Game 2, both in the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant led all scorers in Game 1 with 40 points while Pau Gasol led all Game 2 scorers with 29 points. Bryant, however, dished out a personal playoff high 13 assists in the second game to go along with his contribution of 21 points in leading the Lakers towards their 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Games 3 and 4 will be in Phoenix, on Sunday night and Tuesday nights, respectively. Should the Lakers win those two games, they will head to the NBA Finals and will probably be going head-to-head, once again, with the Boston Celtics who, at this point, appear to heading to the Finals, leading the Orlando Magic 3 games to 0 in their Eastern Conference Finals.

Will it be another Celtics - Lakers showdown? In a few days, we may know. Stay tuned.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

After having swept the Utah Jazz 4 games to 0 with a convincing 111-96 victory on Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers are now set to take on the #3 seed Phoenix Suns for the Western Conference Championship and a potential 3rd straight trip to the NBA Finals. The task will not be an easy one, however, as the Phoenix Suns’ resurgence as a Western Conference powerhouse has been nothing short of remarkable. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudimire have done a tremendous job of propelling Phoenix back to the top of the West, along with the Lakers, who are still the slight favorites to repeat, at least as the Western Champions.

To repeat as World Champions, they would have to get past the Suns, then take on either the Orlando Magic, the team they played last year, or the Boston Celtics, the team they played the year before. Either way, the road to the Larry O’Brien Trophy is going to be a rough and bumpy one for whichever two of the four teams make it to the NBA Finals.

Within the next two weeks, we shall know.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

The Lakers are continuing to push themselves towards another Western Conference Finals and a third straight shot at the NBA Finals by slowly putting away the Utah Jazz. They defeated (but barely) the Jazz in Game Three by a narrow 111-110 margin to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference semi-finals.

The Jazz took the last shot in the game, missed by Deron Williams, and the following tip-in attempt by Wesley Matthews which would have won the game for Jazz as time ran out.

Game Four, which the Lakers would like to be the final game of the series while the Jazz do not, will be played on Monday night in Utah. Should the Lakers win, they will be going to their third straight Western Conference Finals, to await the winner of the Phoenix Suns-San Antonio Spurs series, currently led by Phoenix, 3 games to 0.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

There was 6:16 left in the 4th quarter and the Utah Jazz had scored 14 points in the quarter. The Los Angeles Lakers had scored 1 point. Yes. . . just 1 point. It looked as though history would be made as the Lakers appeared to be headed toward the lowest scoring quarter in playoff history, if not NBA history. By the end of the game, Utah had scored 26 points in the quarter, and the Lakers had scored 23. Game One to the Lakers, 104-99, in a great comeback during a terrible L.A. fourth quarter.

As usual, it was Kobe Bryant who sparked that Laker rally and he led all scorers in the game with 31 points. Pau Gasol added 25 for the Lakers. Deron Williams led Utah with 24 points while Carlos Boozer had 18.

The Lakers are winning these close games, but their luck may run out if they keep stretching all the games down to the wire. If they want to repeat as champions, they will have to step up their game to another level.

Game Two will be on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

It seemed at times as if they were two evenly matched teams, #1 and #2 in the league, instead of #1 and #8 seeds in their conferences. In another down-to-the-wire, hard-fought battle in the trenches, the Los Angeles Lakers finally put down the scratching and clawing Oklahoma City Thunder 95-94 to win the best-of-seven series 4 games to 2. And the Lakers needed 47 minutes and 59:05 seconds to accomplish this feat as Pau Gasol tipped in a missed Kobe Bryant jumper with just 0:05 on the game clock to go up by one.

The Thunder gave it everything they had but came up just short of sending the series to a 7th and deciding game. The Lakers will now have to play the surprising Utah Jazz who shocked the potentially strong Denver Nuggets 4 games to 2. Game One of their second-round series will begin on Sunday.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 32 points while Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 26. Pau Gasol only scored 9 points, but it was his final 2 points that made all the difference in the game for the Lakers and in the season for the Thunder.

Congratulations to the Lakers for their first-round playoff victory.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

Game 4 was a complete joy for the Oklahoma City Thunder and a big disappointment for the Lakers. On Saturday, the Thunder crushed the Lakers 110-89 to tie the series at 2 games apiece. Game 5 was the pivotal game in this series between the West’s #1 and #8 seeds.

In Game 5, the Lakers, playing in front of their home crowd in the Staples Center, came out blasting and, after blinking, the Thunder found themselves trailing 14-1. This time, the Lakers never let the Thunder back in the game. The final score was a 111-87 blowout in which the Lakers’ big men dominated. Pau Gasol had 25 points and Andrew Bynum had 21. And this time, Kobe Bryant concentrated on defense, stopping Russell Westbrook from taking over as he had in previous games. Westbrook only scored 15, while Kevin Durant only scored 17 to lead the Thunder.

The Lakers now lead the best-of-seven series 3 games to 2. Game 6, where the Lakers will try for the knockout punch, will be played Friday night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder would like to extend the series to 7 games and send it back to Los Angeles.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

For the third straight game, the Lakers and the Thunder battled down to the wire in a hard-fought, head-to-head war in the opening round of the playoffs. But unlike the first two games, it was the Oklahoma City Thunder who came out victorious this time with a 101-96 win over the defending champion Lakers.

The Lakers looked as if they would blow the Thunder away early as they jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead. With balanced scoring from their team, they maintained that lead until the 4th quarter when the Thunder took over the lead and never relinquished it.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, Oklahoma City shot 34 free throws to only 12 for the Lakers, so the game may have been won by the Thunder or lost by the Lakers at the foul line. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 29 and 27 points respectively to offset Los Angeles’ balanced scoring.

Kobe Bryant led the team with 24 points, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Thunder who cut the series lead to 2 games to 1. Game 4 will be on Saturday at Oklahoma City.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life

The defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers once again came away with a hard-fought 95-92 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their best-of-7 series. The Lakers shot a miserable 37% from the field, 27% from 3-point range and a lousy 71% from the free-throw line, yet they managed to win the game. That is because the Thunder did no better statistically, so the Lakers now lead the series 2 games to 0, with the series shifting to Oklahoma City on Thursday.

Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 39 points followed by 25 points by Pau Gasol. After that, the Lakers had very little scoring from the rest of the team, just enough to squeeze out a narrow victory. Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 32 points.

If the Lakers want to have a shot at remaining Champions, they will have to have a better showing than this for the rest of the playoffs.

M. Dean
Muhammad Ali Life