Lakers 103, Suns 101 (Lakers lead 3-2)

Going into this game, my thought process was:

“If the Suns lose this game, then they will not win this series. If the Lakers lose this game, they can still win this series.”

In other words, in my opinion, the Suns had to have this game. The Lakers, to me, are more than strong enough to come back from a 3-2 deficit. Fortunately the Lakers won’t have to worry about that as Ron Artest’s layup with time expiring puts the Lakers in kill position. This was your typical grind-it-out-slug match that you look for in the playoffs. The Lakers were practically up this whole game, but the Suns would not go away. At times, it seemed like the Lakers were up by 20 (they did lead by 18), when the Suns were actually only down single digits.

Phoenix showed resiliency that all but earned them the victory. Jason Richardson’s bank shot three with 3 seconds to go tied the game. This put the ball in Kobe’s hands….hands any team would love to have shoot the last shot. On the inbound, Kobe caught the ball and heaved a jumper which hit nothing….except for Ron Artest’s hands. Artest quickly laid the ball back in as time expired giving the Lakers the two point victory.

Moments before, Artest had stupidly heaved a three pointer with a full shot clock in a close game. Phil Jackson was none too pleased. Artest obviously redeemed himself with that basket. The Suns will now head back home where they hope to pull off the upset and force a game seven.

My Thoughts:

• If this game had gone into overtime, my gut says the Suns would’ve won. A lot of times when a team ties the game late and forces OT. It knocks the wind out of the team that was previously leading. The fans would’ve grown silent, and the Suns would’ve possibly snuck out with a victory.
• Kobe and Nash must put up 395840570298574 jump shots in the offseason. It baffles me how a human being can be that effective at putting the ball in the net. Ridiculous.
• Who will win game 6? The Lakers. But I can’t sleep on the Suns. They show a lot of moxy.

-G