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lol "We can thank Memphis for that"
Coaches/players/gm's/fans still being pissed about Memphis and Gasol amuses me very much. Glorious.
Wait til they see what we're gonna pull at the deadline this year. Everyone is gonna bricks.
West teams face long odds against Lakers
By Johnny Ludden
Kobe Bryant’s pass hung in the air for a moment, and then it was gone, disappearing into Andrew Bynum’s giant hands just long enough for him to viciously flush the ball through the rim. The Phoenix Suns’ center, Channing Frye, had raked Bynum with a foul, but no matter. On this night, Frye, like all of the Suns, could only stare hopelessly up at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The rest of the West knows the feeling. These days, the Lakers are playing above everyone’s heads. The Suns brought the conference’s second-best record into Staples Center Sunday night, and were dismissed with a thorough 108-88 beating. It was the Lakers’ ninth consecutive victory, and afterward one question bore asking:
Did the Lakers ever look this dominant last season?
“We’ve played the other teams,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said, “and I think they’re by far the best team.”
By “other” Gentry meant the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers, the East’s power triumvirate. Nearly a quarter of the schedule is gone, and the West has so far produced only the Denver Nuggets as legitimate challengers to the NBA’s defending champions. The Portland Trail Blazers just lost Greg Oden for the season. The San Antonio Spurs are hibernating again, only this winter no one knows if they’ll awake. And as well as the Dallas Mavericks have played, they just lost consecutive games to the Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks.
As for any comparisons between the Suns and Lakers? Gentry said it best himself: “What we’re trying to do and what they’re trying to do are completely different things.”
The Lakers remain their own measuring stick, and they’ve already noticed growth since the end of last season. Simple math says two 7-footers are greater than one.
The Lakers lost Bynum midway through last season, and he wasn’t much help after returning for their playoff run. Pau Gasol then missed the first 11 games of this season. Only now are the Lakers building upon the potential they showed before Bynum went down.
“We can thank Memphis for that,” Gentry said.
The Grizzlies’ decision to trade Gasol to the Lakers nearly two years ago still burns rival coaches and executives. Now the Lakers have become as formidable as everyone in the West feared. That’s why the Suns gambled on Shaquille O’Neal, and it’s why small-market teams like the Spurs and Utah Jazz now feel compelled to pay hefty luxury-tax bills to try to close the talent gap.
More than ever, size matters against the Lakers. Bynum, Gasol and Lamar Odom are all long and athletic, and they can each pass. They also clean up each other’s mistakes. When Gasol stumbled and missed a layup early, Bynum rose over the Suns for the rebound and put-back.
“I wouldn’t give away our secrets,” Odom said, “but we like to get the ball inside.”
That’s why Oden’s knee injury could cripple any hopes Portland had of reaching the NBA Finals. Some scouts think the Blazers could settle into a better flow offensively without Oden, but this is also true: With their young center, the Blazers were one of the few teams with enough size to counter the Lakers. They’ll still be dangerous once Travis Outlaw returns, but losing a 7-footer who can defend and rebound against the Lakers’ big men is tough to overcome.
The Suns tried to compensate for their own mismatches with double-teams. The Lakers’ shooters then buried them from the outside.
“When you feel like you’re doing everything you can to try and compete and win, and your opponent just seems to be one step ahead of you and finding ways to do things easy, that can be frustrating,” Lakers guard Derek Fisher said. “We can do that to anybody if we’re focused and disciplined.”
Focus is sometimes still a problem for the Lakers, who admit they’ve benefitted from a cozy schedule that allows them to play 17 of their first 21 games at home. The Suns, in contrast, have already played 14 road games and Sunday’s visit – like their previous meeting with the Lakers – came at the end of a back-to-back.
“I want to see us do this on the road in tougher situations against teams that are ready to play,” Gasol said.
Toughness, however, doesn’t seem to be much of an issue with these Lakers. The Lakers were good last season, but also beatable. Now? Not so much. Having Bynum healthy helps, but so has the addition of Ron Artest. When Amar’e Stoudemire tried to make a simple outlet pass, Artest muscled up to him before finally flustering him into losing the ball. The turnover threw a charge into the Lakers, who pulled away for good.
“I don’t know where their weakness is,” Gentry said. “No one can be any more physical than they can. No one is more athletic than they are.”
This is what the rest of the West always feared. The Lakers are healthy, hungry, growing stronger by the week. Once again, everyone else is looking up.
lol "We can thank Memphis for that"
Coaches/players/gm's/fans still being pissed about Memphis and Gasol amuses me very much. Glorious.
Wait til they see what we're gonna pull at the deadline this year. Everyone is gonna bricks.
Well that scam is still ing things up.
And Boston, Atlanta, Chicago are thanking Phoenix for Rondo, Johnson and Deng.
+1
Pretty hard to whine about that when you traded an expiring contract and two first round picks for NOTHING only a few months before the Gasol trade. Sarver only has himself to blame for why LA is so much better now, and the excuses like this keep coming.
Oh, my goodness, said out loud like that borders on criminal negligence.
Great plan though by the Suns' brass to blame the Gasol trade for everything that has gone wrong in Phoenix the last few years. I can't wait to go to a game and stare in amazement at the "We're sure we win a championship if not for the Gasol trade" banner hanging from the rafters.
I was shocked when the Suns traded Joe Johnson...I thought he should be the one that they should've built around...man, I had totally forgot about Rondo...
And Rudy Fernandez.....and Kurt Thomas.....and the one that I think will sting the most, the Knicks' 2010 unprotected first round pick.
I wasn't too pissed off at their recent struggles, but this excuse making pisses me off to no end.
"I was shocked when the Suns traded Joe Johnson..."
& it was all over a measly $5 million dollars.
Oh, my goodness once again.
If the Suns were owned by Mark Cuban or Jerry Buss they'd probably have a le by now.
Cheapest owner EVER.
They had a shot at Rudy F.? Wow, no wonder my friend, who is a lifetime Suns fan, hates Sarver...I did not know...
But hey, at least the Cardinals started the Brett Farve is the most giving in December phase...
You stop postin...Sarver is not as cheap as the owner of the team that shares the Staples Center--which, I may add is a disgrace for the Lakers
Actually, Joe Johnson wanted out of Phoenix because he wanted an offense to run though him. He didn't like the fact that Nash, Amare and Marion were the main options.
Not really but then again that's the story the front office and AZCentral cooked up for fans to believe.
Over-reactions.
at Laker fans who think they can pull another deal like that...
wow..those are alot of key guys...i didnt really follow those trades much. Can you refresh my memory on the trades for rudy, rondo, jj, kurt, deng and knicks 2010 draft pick.
just wait when you see mayo for sasha soon.
Maaaan are you gonna be salty.
Uh, uh, Vic,,,,I know precisely where the bear s in the buckwheat, keed. He didn't want to be fourth option AFTER Sarver wouldn't give him the aforementioned $5 million smackers.
They're in with you man. Jokes.
When they traded Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the Knicks during the 2003-2004 season, one of the things the Suns received their 2010 unprotected pick. They then traded that pick to the Jazz in order to unload Tom Gugliotta's contract (which was expiring at the end of the season) so Jerry Colangelo could save that much more money before he sold the team that off season. Cost cutting move that did nothing to improve the roster.
That off season, they wanted Andre Iguodala at #7 but didn't think he'd be available. The way Antoni works is he has a very short list of players he wants on draft night, and if none are there, he's too stubborn to draft someone else, so he sells the pick. He and the Colangelos agreed to draft Deng at #7 and then trade him to the Bulls for Chicago's 2005 first round pick. It turns out Iguodala was available at #7 anyway. Also, Colangelo felt JJ didn't deserve the extension he wanted, so he decided to risk it and let JJ become a restritced FA next off season.
Then the 2005 off season hit after a 62 win season, they had the Bulls' pick (#21 overall) and decided to throw it in a trade with the Knicks since they didn't want to use it. So little do people know, Nate Robinson was also given away by Phoenix. In 2004, JJ wanted 6 years 50 million, but this off season Atlanta offered 5 years 70 million that Phoenix had the choice of matching. JJ felt insulted by the low ball offer Phoenix gave him, so he did everything he could to ensure they didn't match. They wound up signing and trading him for Diaw, Cleveland's 2006 first round pick, and ATL's first rounder that was lottery protected in 2006, top 3 protected in 2007, and unprotected after that.
2006 off season. They again have the #21 overall pick, and again Antoni had a very short list of players he wanted, Thabo Sefolosha topping the list. Since he wasn't there at 21, Antoni decided to use the pick to unload Brian Grant's contract (which wasn't very big at all, and was expiring a year from then). He agrees to draft Rondo and trade him to Boston.
2007 off season. ATL manages to get the #3 pick, which was terribly unfortunate cause if it was #4 or worse Phoenix would have had it. The 24 pick comes around, and none of the players Antoni loves are there, so he and Sarver agree to sell it to Portland and draft Rudy Fernandez for them, which is stupid cause if they draft Rudy they would gotten to wait a year to pay him. Later on, the Suns are beyond the luxury tax threshold, and Sarver wants to get below it cause he's a cheap . Antoni says to him, "I'm not going to use Kurt Thomas, I regret using him against the Spurs. It goes against our philosophy. So Sarver goes to Kerr and says trade Kurt Thomas ASAP to a team with cap room, include draft picks if you have to, Antoni never uses those either.
That basically sums it up.
Lakers are the best of the NBA... props to West and their fanbase
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