# Game 1: Phoenix Suns @ Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31



## ShuHanGuanYu

*Game 1: Tuesday, October 31st, 8:30 PM (PST - Arizona)*

*TNT*










*Phoenix Suns* 
_(0-0)_









<table border=2 align=center>
<tr align=center>
<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<tr align=center>
<td>*Nash*
<td>*Bell*
<td>*Marion*
<td>*Diaw*
<td>*Thomas*
<tr align=center>
<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<tr align=center>
<td>Banks
<td>Barbosa
<td>JuJones
<td>JaJones
<td>Stoudemire
</table>









@


*Los Angeles Lakers*
_(0-0)_









<table border=2 align=center>
<tr align=center>
<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<tr align=center>
<td>*Parker*
<td>*Bryant*
<td>*Walton*
<td>*Odom*
<td>*Bynum*
<tr align=center>
<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<td>








<tr align=center>
<td>Farmar
<td>Evans
<td>Radmanovic
<td>Cook
<td>Turiaf
</table>










*Match-up of the Night*
_Statistics from First Round of 2006 Playoffs_
<table border=2 align=center>
<tr align=center><td>Player
<td>Points
<td>Rebounds
<td>Assists
<td>Steals
<td>Blocks
<tr align=center><td>








<td>*12.0*
<td>*3.2*
<td>*1.7*
<td>*0.5*
<td>*0.5*
<tr align=center><td>








<td>*27.9*
<td>*6.3*
<td>*5.1*
<td>*1.1*
<td>*0.4*
</table>​

*Game Notes* 

Western Conference First Round Playoffs rematch! With plenty bad blood remaining from a close, hard-fought playoff series in last year's playoffs, both teams would love nothing more than to make a statement in this regular season opener for both teams. Raja Bell will no doubt draw the ire of Los Angeles fans after the "incidents" of the previous year, and the referees will also make their statement early in this game if the court gets too heated. The Lakers will call on Andrew Bynum to start, hoping he can provide a scoring lift in place of their injured big men. Thus (and likely the gist of the year for the Suns), the solid interior defense and rebounding of Kurt Thomas will be key. Down with the Lakeshow!

*Injuries* 

There are a lot of nagging injuries going into this game. Shawn Marion is probable to start, suffering from back injuries sustained by taking a charge in a preseason game against the Lakers' Andrew Bynum. Leandro Barbosa is nursing a hurt toe. Amare Stoudemire had experienced soreness for two days late last week, but is reported by Coach D'Antoni to be coming off his two best practices yet. Kobe Bryant is coming off knee surgery and was a late decision to play, despite being described as "questionable to doubtful" by coach Phil Jackson several days before the game. Phil Jackson himself returns to the Lakers bench tonight, returning from hip replacement surgery that kept him out of the preseason. Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm will not be in uniform for the Lakers.


Vegas Odds
_MGM-Mirage_

Favorite: PHO	
Point spread: -4​


Go Suns!​


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Decided to go ahead and post one early. I'll be messing around with it a little bit. I usually add injury info, previous meeting recap, previous game recaps for each team...but let me know if you guys want anything else added to gamethreads.

Screw Halloween, October 31st belongs to the NBA.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

...and of course, starting lineups are a last minute change. I guess Kwame Brown isn't playing either, but Kobe is probable.


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## Seuss

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Decided to go ahead and post one early. I'll be messing around with it a little bit. I usually add injury info, previous meeting recap, previous game recaps for each team...but let me know if you guys want anything else added to gamethreads.
> 
> Screw Halloween, October 31st belongs to the NBA.



lol

It would be fun to have Vegas odds. Add what the odds are of both teams winning.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Dr.Seuss said:


> lol
> 
> It would be fun to have Vegas odds. Add what the odds are of both teams winning.


Ahh, very nice idea. I'll add those in when it gets closer.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Hmm, I'm hearing Kobe might not be ready to play in the opener. Damn! That takes some of the wind out of game 1, and makes my NBA Opening Night party less fun.


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## Seuss

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Hmm, I'm hearing Kobe might not be ready to play in the opener. Damn! That takes some of the wind out of game 1, and makes my NBA Opening Night party less fun.



It also puts more pressure on the Suns to win. That would 
be very sad if the Suns loss to a banged up Kobeless team.


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## Darth Bryant

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Hmm, I'm hearing Kobe might not be ready to play in the opener. Damn! That takes some of the wind out of game 1, and makes my NBA Opening Night party less fun.



I still think he will be there...

But if he's not.. How depressing.

Ive been looking forward to this game. Even though I know the Suns in my heart are going to win... I wanted it to be a good game. And without Kobe there, theres no chance of it being at least a competitive game.

Oh well, I guess the waiting game will tell all.


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## afobisme

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

i fear the suns 

i think nash can play into his late 30's and still be quite effective too, he just seems like one of those guys.


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## Tiz

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Hmm, I'm hearing Kobe might not be ready to play in the opener. Damn! That takes some of the wind out of game 1, and makes my NBA Opening Night party less fun.


At least we have the Clippers the next night to look forward to.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Tiz said:


> At least we have the Clippers the next night to look forward to.


Indeed, and I'll be at that game!


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## bootstrenf

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Tiz said:


> At least we have the Clippers the next night to look forward to.



damn skippy...we'll give you guys a real game...


for the lakers/suns game...go suns!!!


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



CDRacingZX6R said:


> I still think he will be there...
> 
> But if he's not.. How depressing.
> 
> Ive been looking forward to this game. Even though I know the Suns in my heart are going to win... I wanted it to be a good game. And without Kobe there, theres no chance of it being at least a competitive game.
> 
> Oh well, I guess the waiting game will tell all.


Yeah, I hope he plays. If he doesn't it'll probably suck a little wind out of the Staples Center. This game was going to be a playoff atmosphere with the crowd completely juiced up. I wanted a hostile environment! We'll see...


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Added the preseason stats in. Do you guys like the team stats in the thread or would you rather just have a link to the stats?


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## Seuss

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Added the preseason stats in. Do you guys like the team stats in the thread or would you rather just have a link to the stats?



I like them there. They look good.


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## Tiz

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Dr.Seuss said:


> I like them there. They look good.


Ditto! :clap:


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Yikes, Kobe is now questionable to doubtful according to some reports. Dammit. Oh well, now the pressure is definitely on to not blow it with a loss to the Kobe-Kwame-Chris-less Lakers. 

I'm confident that Kurt can use his body to force Bynum into some tough shots, but it should turn out to be the classic 'double team Odom in the post' defense. They'll no doubt post him up against Marion and Diaw. I'm looking forward to getting a look at Bynum and Farmar.


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## afobisme

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

kobe himself said it was an 85% chance (yesterday though). 

btw, i doubt you'll see much of farmar.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



afobisme said:


> kobe himself said it was an 85% chance (yesterday though).
> 
> btw, i doubt you'll see much of farmar.


Wow really? That's cool, hope that's true.

And how come with Farmar? I figured he'd get at least 10-15 minutes backing up Smush Parker, especially if Kobe is out and you have Evans/Vujacic at the SG spot. Are they gonna play Shammond Williams instead?


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## afobisme

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

i think shammond is injured... and actually i think they might play farmar, but not a whole lot.. probably less than 10 minutes. phil is just back now, and i don't think he'll give farmar a chance right away.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Yeah I definitely doubt Phil has any confidence in Farmar running a triangle yet. But he definitely had a decent preseason, and due to attrition I can see him getting at least 10. Hopefully Smush will get into foul trouble so that changes...hehe.


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## afobisme

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

btw, im baffled as to why the suns didn't play amare that much in the preseason? well, more like why didn't they let him play the post? he was pretty much a nonfactor in every game i saw him play in (even the one where he scored 15 points).

has d'antoni given a reason to why he hasn't had many offensive looks?


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

To be honest a lot of us were as well. The Suns did not seem to want to go to him and let him work. Instead, coach was trying to let him get his feet wet out there and then assess where he's at physically and mentally before developing any plans and him. Part of that was him playing a lot with the second unit most of the games, several of whom are new to the team and struggling to acclimate themselves as well. 

I too was dissapointed with the minutes, but we'll see all our questions answered several games into the regular season. It's a long season and they have plenty of time to fit Amare into whatever role they envision him playing.


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## Tiz

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Jackson says Kobe will play.


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## Effen

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

It's like a friggin soap opera with Kobe and playing, jesus..


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## ShuHanGuanYu

Damn, looks like Shawn Marion might sit out the opener!

Link 

That would most definitely suck.


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## Sedd

Oh no at Marion's back!!! Looks like Amare may start after all.


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## Tiz

ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Damn, looks like Shawn Marion might sit out the opener!
> 
> Link
> 
> That would most definitely suck.


  
:curse:


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## Effen

I still dont know if they're throw Amare back into a starting spot, the way it seems is D'Antoni wants Amare to *earn* that starting spot. But if Marion sits, I dno who else they're throw in there.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

If Marion sits I'm pretty sure they'll go with James Jones as a starter. They don't need to go tall against the Lakers with Mihm and Brown out. I would initially think they'd throw Barbosa in there, but the only problem with that is it puts Raja on Luke Walton (assuming he starts at the 3) and Leandro on Kobe.

I doubt Amare starts right now.


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## Effen

Is barbosa up to play? I saw him at the seattle preseason game he didnt play at all because of his...toe I think it was.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

Effen said:


> Is barbosa up to play? I saw him at the seattle preseason game he didnt play at all because of his...toe I think it was.


Yeah I think he's fine and wanted to rest that toe before the real thing starts. No confirmation on that though.


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## Seuss

ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Yeah I think he's fine and wanted to rest that toe before the real thing starts. No confirmation on that though.


In one of the articles it says LB is healthy and ready to
play in the opener. I also think Marion will be ready. 
Back spasms can go away very fast, and comeback just as fast.


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## Effen

I hope he is ready. Barbosa is so fun to watch. His speed, agility (sometimes lol), and penetration to the basket is great. He can definately make some circus shots like Nash. If Marion is out, the only one to really crash the boards would be Thomas or Jones. Kurt Thomas played great against the Seattle preseason game I think it was, grabbing those offensive boards.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

I'm looking forward to seeing what Marcus Banks can do in this game. He's had his struggles statistically so far, but if you'd have been able to see his games there have been a lot of positives there. He's had some amazing passes so far, it's just that his shot isn't going down and his decision making is off.


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## patburkewhat?

yes i'm new, but i lived in phoenix (chandler) for most of my life. Now i live in LA and it's painful. I think it's about time for us to get that championship, Amare at 100% or not. Dallas has nothing, San Antonio doesnt scare me. Suns have this game in the bag.


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## Seuss

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9OSCGfPq8ec"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9OSCGfPq8ec" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

here we go.....


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## Effen

Okay guys...

How about predicting the final score for this game?

108- 97 *phx*


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## bootstrenf

Effen said:


> Okay guys...
> 
> How about predicting the final score for this game?
> 
> 108- 97 *phx*



phx 123 lak 97


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## Seuss

102 - 95 Suns


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## Dissonance

Hm, I'm gonna go, 111-98

But the game is closer than the score indicated though. First game of the yr. Let's just not give up a 15 pt lead, and blow it in a couple of OTs. That set the tone for the yr...


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## ShuHanGuanYu

Game thread has been finished. Gotsta go finish getting ready for peeps to come over. Go Suns dammit!

I'm going to say the Suns win by 7. 104-97. Suns will be up 16 in the second half, but they'll creep back and the accouncers will go on and on saying "The Suns aren't gonna stop shooting! Aren't gonna stop playing their game! You can get back into it!" Suns win though.

Hehe, all of us have the Lakers scoring less than 100. This is our confidence in Kurt! :biggrin:


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## Darth Bryant

Well, with every other website saying Kobe isn't or is going to play Im not sure what to believe. Kobe plays, I say they lose by 10. If Kobe doesnt play, I say the loss is more like 20 points or so.


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## BootyKing

GAME TIME BABY :banana:


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## Sedd

Sad and pitiful is about all I can say right now.


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## Lukasbmw

Eh, this is still basically pre-season. 

No need to ring any alarms just yet. We put together an incredible first quarter but came out flat for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peroids. 

We'll be fine.


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## Steez

Amare was doing fine from what I saw... going 2-2... why did he play only 11 minutes?
*am at work so did not see the game, just by ESPN scoreboard*


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## Sedd

Lukasbmw said:


> Eh, this is still basically pre-season.
> 
> No need to ring any alarms just yet. We put together an incredible first quarter but came out flat for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peroids.
> 
> We'll be fine.


Defense was just so weak. It even looks like Raja even regressed on defense.

Barbosa= 6th man of the year.


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## OneBadLT123

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Dr.Seuss said:


> It also puts more pressure on the Suns to win. That would
> be very sad if the Suns loss to a banged up Kobeless team.


 :angel:


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## upsanddowns

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



OneBadLT123 said:


> :angel:



HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH.

Sorry, I just had to. Lakers missing their two starting bigmen (Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm) and two point guards (Shammond Williams, Aaron Mckie).


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## ElMarroAfamado

man i hope Barbosa cools down for tomorrows game against the Clippers what did he shoot today from 3 like 100%???
:curse: :curse:


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## upsanddowns

Lukasbmw said:


> Eh, this is still basically pre-season.
> 
> No need to ring any alarms just yet. We put together an incredible first quarter but came out flat for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th peroids.
> 
> We'll be fine.


Wow, do Suns fans ever give credit to the other team? The Suns still lost when the best player in the NBA wasn't even playing. Don't underestimate the Lakers, they're worth more than many people anticipate.


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## Darth Bryant

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Well, with every other website saying Kobe isn't or is going to play Im not sure what to believe. Kobe plays, I say they lose by 10. If Kobe doesnt play, I say the loss is more like 20 points or so.



Wow. Didn't see this one comming.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

Haha, Suns got their asses handed to them tonight. Dang, they looked bad. Barbosa was amazing, but we just looked way out of sync out there. They better not suck that bad when I'm there tomorrow. If we know anything about the Suns, they'll rebound from this.

Lakers on the other hand were firing on all cylinders. If Odom could actually play with that sort of intesity every night, they could do something great this year.

The party was even bigger than I had planned, so I ended up missing a lot of the game. Oh well. :biggrin: Too much fun...hehe.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

CDRacingZX6R said:


> Wow. Didn't see this one comming.


Hehe, yeah, I doubt many did. Bynum was a stud!


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## ShuHanGuanYu

upsanddowns said:


> Wow, do Suns fans ever give credit to the other team? The Suns still lost when the best player in the NBA wasn't even playing. Don't underestimate the Lakers, they're worth more than many people anticipate.


Why don't you try something new and STOP GENERALIZING FANBASES. We've talked about this before. And plenty of Suns fans give credit. But of course we aren't going to be groveling about how good the Lakers are. That would be stupid, go to your own forum for that. We'll be talking about what the Suns did wrong and how we can improve.


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## HawaiianLaker

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



upsanddowns said:


> HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH.
> 
> Sorry, I just had to. Lakers missing their two starting bigmen (Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm) and two point guards (Shammond Williams, Aaron Mckie).


Come on man I'm a lakers fan too but those guys really are not that important.


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## afobisme

i guess i look like a fool now. i thought phoenix was going to walk all over us.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

afobisme said:


> i guess i look like a fool now. i thought phoenix was going to walk all over us.


Nah, not many had the Lakers down for a win once they knew Kobe was out. That, plus the hype that surrounded the Suns at the beginning of the year (people saying they are possible contenders, and the Suns were painted as a sure-fire winner for opening night. But it happens a lot in the NBA when teams win when they have their backs against a wall. When guys are fighting for time and trying to take an inch here and there, that's when a team can be dangerous (especially behind a home crowd like the one in L.A. tonight). I've seen way wierder things happen in the NBA.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



HawaiianLaker said:


> Come on man I'm a lakers fan too but those guys really are not that important.


Yeah, when you start counting two guys that haven't played in a couple years, you are going overboard in making your point.

Thanks to most of the Lakers fans for being classy. 'Preciate it. :cheers:


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## Dre

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

This was an interesting game. A couple notable score shifts, I don't know whether it was the Suns interior D or the Lakers that were just concurrently having a great night, but everyone was in there posting up, making uncharacteristic moves. I think tonight was definitely an exception with this and the Heat game. I don't know what to make of things.


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## Dissonance

Well, that was horrible.  

Lakers played amazing. Kobe comes back and they play like this..Damn.

Bynum is a monster.


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## Seuss

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*

Funny, when you don't play D it usually comes back
to haunt you. I don't know how many layups the Lakers got, but it had to been
half of their points. I'm mad the Suns didn't take advantage of this but I am
also am not totally surprised. The Suns are going to struggle. This first month will be the hardest, we have to see where we are at after this month. 

All I ask is for the Suns to stop giving up so many God damn layups. That would
win us 5 games alone.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

Dissonance19 said:


> Well, that was horrible.
> 
> Lakers played amazing. Kobe comes back and they play like this..Damn.
> 
> Bynum is a monster.


Yeah. Die hard Suns fan, but I still found myself rooting for the kid to do well. At 19, he made a huge impact on this game. Plus, following up the awesome sequence verse Shaq, he showed that he was for real.


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## ShuHanGuanYu

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Dr.Seuss said:


> Funny, when you don't play D it usually comes back
> to haunt you. I don't know how many layups the Lakers got, but it had to been
> half of their points. I'm mad the Suns didn't take advantage of this but I am
> also am not totally surprised. The Suns are going to struggle. This first month will be the hardest, we have to see where we are at after this month.
> 
> All I ask is for the Suns to stop giving up so many God damn layups. That would
> win us 5 games alone.


Lakers had 66 points in the paint. That is atrocious. Even Kurt was unable to do anything to slow them down. Sometimes you just can't stop people, but damn...


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## Dre

*Re: Game 1: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers - 10/31*



Dr.Seuss said:


> Funny, when you don't play D it usually comes back
> to haunt you. I don't know how many layups the Lakers got, but it had to been
> half of their points. I'm mad the Suns didn't take advantage of this but I am
> also am not totally surprised. The Suns are going to struggle. This first month will be the hardest, we have to see where we are at after this month.
> 
> All I ask is for the Suns to stop giving up so many God damn layups. That would
> win us 5 games alone.


OT, that SLAM looks so nice right about now. Too bad I'm in the middle of nowhere and they don't have it. I gotta subscribe.


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## Zei_Zao_LS

What's really weird, is that before the game I was on the phone with my step-brother. Right before I got off to watch the game, I said "Barbosa is going for 33 tonight."

If he hadn't stepped out of bounds, he would have. :sour:


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## Lukasbmw

We looked great in the first quarter. So great that I started laughing. I mean Amare and Barbosa come off the bench and all of a sudden we are up by 20.

To bad we fell apart after that.

Stat looks good, but when he tries to force things, bad stuff happens.

We have some stuff to work on, but with 81 games left, I'm not worried.


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## Effen

ShuHanGuanYu said:


> Why don't you try something new and STOP GENERALIZING FANBASES. We've talked about this before. And plenty of Suns fans give credit. But of course we aren't going to be groveling about how good the Lakers are. That would be stupid, go to your own forum for that. We'll be talking about what the Suns did wrong and how we can improve.


ex*friggin*zactly.

But it's just one game. 81 more to go. Phoenix will find its groove. Its gonna be a bumpy start, but when the chemistry clicks, its going to *click*.

I'll give the Lakers credit, after that 41 point 1st quarter and how well Phoenix was playing, I thought to myself that if they can keep playing like this...this game is over. The lakers came back a different team starting the 2nd quarter. Bynum, holy crap. That kid has some skill, im interested in seeing how well he improves over the season. Odom (or i like to refer to him as Aries Spears from Mad TV) great game, definately an unstoppable force last night.


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## G-Force

After that first quarter, it looked like the Suns were gonna run away with the game. That first quarter was amazing.

I am sorry that the Suns ended up losing this one. Its only one game, and the Suns will do ell for the whole season. I'm pulling for them.

G-Force


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## Phoenix32

I saw this game and it was terrible. 1st q was really great, but later nightmare began, we couldn't stop them in the paint and it was the reason why we lost. Our defense is the worst in the world and we can not play good all the match, in one quarter we score 41 pts, in another just 17. It is bad. If we want to reach NBA finals we need to upgrade our defense and stop play nervously.


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