It’s funny how much things can swing on a single game. Heading into Game 3, everyone pretty much wrote the Suns off and penciled the Lakers into their third-straight NBA Finals. But with last night’s 118-109 victory, the Suns proved a couple of things: 1) they can beat the Lakers in the playoffs, and 2) Amare Stoudemire can outplay Pau Gasol.
The win gives the Suns confidence and essentially stops the sky from falling. This franchise has been snakebitten for some time, so when the Lakers got up 2-0, you could cut the desperation surrounding this Suns with a knife. Stoudemire was under fire for his play through the first two games, and there was already speculation that he wouldn’t re-sign with the team. Now, the Suns head into Game 4 with some confidence, and they know that if they can win tomorrow night, that they’ll head back to L.A. having won two-straight with an opportunity to steal home court advantage in Game 5.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the Lakers respond to the Suns’ zone. It’s not like it shut L.A. down — the Lakers shot 48% from the field and scored 109 points. But the Lakers also committed 17 turnovers and shot just 28% from long range. In the first two games, the Suns’ problem wasn’t offense, so even though the zone is a little gimmicky, if they can slow the Lakers down at all, they have a shot.
The zone took the Lakers out of the triangle and knocked L.A. on its heels a bit. Suddenly, they didn’t know where the defense was coming from and they finally had to adjust to something the Suns were throwing at them, instead of running the same offense that has been so productive all season. It was a desperation move by Phoenix, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
The NBA playoffs are all about adjustments, and Phil Jackson is one of the best in the game at tweaking his strategy throughout a series. The Lakers should come out in Game 4 prepared for the zone, so the Suns will have to make some adjustments of their own if they hope to head back to Los Angeles with the series tied.
