# Say we play the Suns in the playoffs...



## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Why don't we go with the big lineup?

C - Kwame
PF - Turiaf
SF - Odom
SG - Kobe
PG - Luke

The first question to ask is, "Who is going to guard Nash?". I can tell you right now that Smush Parker is not. If you caught the game yesterday, you saw Nash repeatedly blow by a near perfectly upright Smush causing help defenders to collapse and leave wide open three pointers. Going with this lineup does not change anything defensively, but it causes huge matchup problems for the Suns. We could post up Nash every trip down the floor and really make him work defensively, push him around a little bit. You have to be careful posting him up though, because any bump results in him flying into the fifth row. You may feel that having Kobe defend Nash will wear him out and his offensive game will take a hit. I don't buy that because this team switches on basically every pick. Also, starting Turiaf would provide us with our only decent weakside defender, meaning Kwame can hang around Amare. I think that Nash can be bothered with the length on the floor. Kobe, Luke, and Odom each have postup skills and each can play on the perimeter. Put Turiaf at the elbow and we won't have a problem with the lane being clogged. If Nash is defending the post, Kobe can just shoot over him and whomever the double team comes from. Since it's in the post, it remains high percentage rather than fadeaway 20 footers over double teams. Luke can bump and fade. Lamar can glide into the lane with his scoop move and keep him from launching perimeter shots that he can't seem to make. Also, posting either of these three on Nash will result in quick double teams. Kobe, Lamar, and Luke are each very capable of finding the open man. Lastly, this lineup slows the tempo to an absolute screeching hault, which is a must if we have any glimmer of hope in this series. Any thoughts?

Kobe's defense, cause doubles, each option can post up skills, really help us to slow the tempo down to a screetching hault..


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Yeah, I'd love to see this. It's too bad Phil won't do it.


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## ¹²³ (Jan 8, 2003)

Phil Jackson used Tyronn Lue as an Iverson stopper, I am pretty sure we will see Smush a lot against the Suns.


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

I don't want a series of these type shots from Smush


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> Why don't we go with the big lineup?
> 
> C - Kwame
> PF - Turiaf
> ...




Thats an absolutely fantastic idea, lets go big on them. We all know Smush will be a failure against Nash anyway, so why not make some changes?


I also agree, with Kobe on Nash. Imo however, It would be interesting to watch Kobe just put more, if not majority of his effort on the defensive end against Nash(not likely). Plus Odom was such a success (and so were the Lakers, winning the next 3)last year, when he was more involved offensively. Put Kobe on the daunting task of defending Nash, while let Lamar continue to post up or isolate/drive and get his buckets against the Suns. From last years playoffs and earlier this year, the Suns have always had problems containing Lamar. And the Lakers, always had a higher chance of winning when Lamar is the go to guy as opposed to Kobe being his usual self.


Obviously the key for the Suns success is Steve Nash. We've seen them without him and they look far and away from contending, If the Lakers can somehow contain Nash, then it just disrupts the Suns whole offense, the ballgame appears to be much more balanced but we have to ask ourselves if can Kobe still handle a role of being much more aggressive defensively? No knock on Kobe, but his defense has suffered, and we all know why. But still his defense will be a key for their success.


My only concern is the bench, with us using Turiaf to start,we'll be so thin and depleted defensively in the post, we'll either have Bynum or Cook taking up majority of the minutes for the reserves, and that doesnt look promising. In terms of production and match ups, the Lakers are in still in a total disadvantage and would still come up short.




To me it all boils down to their mentality. I mean This Lakers have beat the Suns. They are capable of winning against them, you dont beat Phoenix 3x in a row in the postseason by luck. The Lakers obviously has the right people to do it, they just lack this intellective understanding of basketball fundamentals necessary to finish it.


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## Amareca (Oct 21, 2002)

KOBEDUNKEDONSHAQ said:


> To me it all boils down to their mentality. I mean This Lakers have beat the Suns. They are capable of winning against them, you dont beat Phoenix 3x in a row in the postseason by luck. The Lakers obviously has the right people to do it, they just lack this intellective understanding of basketball fundamentals necessary to finish it.


Yeah right a Phoenix team without all of their big men.

And refs that gave you one game, you can't deny this they missed the timeout, the fould and the out of bounds on Walton, don't even try to argue that.

*If your gonna post bait dont post here AT ALL. This is your only warning. Next time there will be punishment


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## PauloCatarino (May 31, 2003)

Amareca said:


> Yeah right a Phoenix team without all of their big men.
> 
> And refs that gave you one game, you can't deny this they missed the timeout, the fould and the out of bounds on Walton, don't even try to argue that.
> 
> Say you play the Suns in the playoffs, book your fishing trips in time.


Isn't this guy banned from the Lakers forum?

If not, how come?


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## g-dog-rice#2 (Jan 29, 2006)

Amareca said:


> Yeah right a Phoenix team without all of their big men.
> 
> And refs that gave you one game, you can't deny this they missed the timeout, the fould and the out of bounds on Walton, don't even try to argue that.
> 
> Say you play the Suns in the playoffs, book your fishing trips in time.


The Lakers didn't have their starting center, Chris Mihm for that series. If they had Mihm they would have won in my opinion.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

When will some of you learn to ignore him? Damn.

As for that last comment above me, Mihm? Come on. Plus, I could easily say, it doesn't go 7, nor are we down 3-1, if we have Amare. See how easy that was?

I really hope it isn't the Lakers. I'm tired of seeing these teams play.


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## Jamel Irief (May 19, 2002)

Smush was huge the first 3 games against the suns until his confidence went downhill, lead the team in scoring in game 3 I believe. Nash can't guard him as well and Smush is sure to pick him off a couple of times. 

I think any time you start Turiaf you sort of take away what makes him so great, that shot in the arm off the bench. Why not go big and start Bynum and Kwame if it came down to that?


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

We will lose in 4 or 5 games against the Spurs and i dont see how its much better against the Suns..sorry boys exepct a 5 game sweep.


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## Silk D (Feb 6, 2006)

SoCalfan21 said:


> sorry boys exepct a *5 game *sweep.


Now that would be embarrassing...


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## nguyen_milan (Jun 28, 2005)

Bring it on Phoenix, I am ready....



















































to lose


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## nguyen_milan (Jun 28, 2005)

Or should I say, here we come Dallas??


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## SoCalfan21 (Jul 19, 2004)

Silk D said:


> Now that would be embarrassing...


what i meant by 5 game sweep is we will lose the series 4-1 but that one game we win will be by complete luck on a last second shot in a game at home or something.


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## px (Apr 21, 2005)

actually i think its better the lakers take on the suns than the spurs...sure the lakers have beaten them i think twice this sesaon...but the spurs transform into a whole different ball club when playoff time comes...better we take on the suns...lakers almost eliminated them last year...i feel this year the lakers will get their revenge....:clap2:


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## Unique (Apr 13, 2005)

Hopefully we get a healthy Kwame come playoff time and Kobe goes back to last year playoff mode (pass pass pass) and LO continues to kill the suns.


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## Eternal (Sep 7, 2005)

Doesn't sound like Kwame is going to be back, at least for the regular season. Not sure how effective he will be come playoff time with alot of rust.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Phil will probably sit Kwame for the remainder of the season. I don't think his pain threshold is all that high, so the plan is to have him as comfortable as possible for the playoffs. Turiaf is stepping up nicely.


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## Eternal (Sep 7, 2005)

Looks like it's almost certain we're getting the Suns first round.


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

they would run the lakers out of the gym... wow


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## VeN (May 10, 2005)

AllEyezonTX said:


> I don't want a series of these type shots from Smush


lmao wtf??


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## WarriorFan64 (Jul 4, 2005)

LOL common now Marion, don't you be the one to come out now.


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## Lakers138 (Feb 8, 2007)

C - Andrew Bynum
PF - Lamar Odom
SF - Luke Walton
SG - Kobe Bryant
PG - Williams/Mckie

Maybe having this lineup would do better as Shammond Williams has more Playoffs experience. Aaron Mckie can be a key off the bench as he has the most experience, but can start if needed as a vet like him can help out. Bynum is more mobile than Brown even though he hasn't been in the league long should be better. Ronny off the bench is what should happen as he can bring that spark that can be needed at times to get the other guys pumped. Having Parker on the bench is a good move as he is inconsistent at times. It will be interesting on how Bynum matches up with Amare if he does start and who will guard who and all.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

In that pic, I think Marion is trying to pull some defense out of Smush's ***.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

If we play the Suns, I really do think we have a chance, no matter how bad we're playing right now. Phil usually gets smarter in the playoffs, and you know he's won't take stupid risks like he does in the regular season (for example, setting up a final possession for Smush Parker and not Kobe). Anyway, if we do play them, it's going to be a fun serious in my opinion. The players will definitely be excited, and the fans will be crazy. Last year's series was intense; I'd expect the same this time around.


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## ¹²³ (Jan 8, 2003)

Basel57 said:


> If we play the Suns, I really do think we have a chance, no matter how bad we're playing right now. Phil usually gets smarter in the playoffs, and you know he's won't take stupid risks like he does in the regular season (for example, setting up a final possession for Smush Parker and not Kobe).


Yeah, I always noticed how Phil takes a lot of unnecessary risks during the regular season, at times it looks like he is just testing his guys out there, leaving them without any instruction, he completly changes the way he coaches the games during the playoffs. :yes:


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## TwiBlueG35 (Jan 24, 2006)

Besides Nash, I think Barbosa is also very very dangerous, because I found him and Nash very consistent almost all the time. They gave me scary impressions. Besides these two guys, I am not too worried about the other guys, Shawn and Boris and Raja were sometimes on and sometimes off. Amare was someone we should let go, that means, giving up containing him and wish he didn't have the flow during some games. My idea is if someone is super good, you better stop containing him because it wouldn't help much. Rather, you concentrate on the ones around him so he doesn't have much help. Their stars would do good anyways, but stopping their secret weapons to do well would help ourselves even more in my opinion.


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