Recap: Los Angeles Lakers versus Phoenix Suns
The Lakers are definitely favorites to win, as they even proved themselves against the Phoenix Suns by beating them 114-106. The Lakers started play in a fantastic way,
with all five Lakers starters scoring in double figures. Five months apart, the Los Angeles Lakers have consecutive victories in Phoenix.
The match remained very interesting for basketball fans until the fourth quarter when both teams donated the same number at 27 but the Suns could still not hold the Lakers
from winning the game by 8 points.
Pau Gasol remained very prominent player for the Lakers by scoring 21 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists. From the Suns, there is Robin Lopez who played well as
compared to the other players, with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Kobe Bryant came out aggressively from the opening tip and led the Lakers in both scoring and rebounding with eight and five in the period. Bryant made nine of 19 shots
in 34 minutes.
The forward for the Lakers, Lamar Odom had a double- double with 18 points and 17 rebounds. He also had five assists. The Lakers reserve, Matt Barnes had 11 points on
four-for-eight shots.
The players of the Suns kept striving during the match and tried to overcome the leading performance of the Lakers but couldn't. Grant Hill scored 21 points, and Jason
Richardson added 17 points for the Suns.
Steve Nash and Jason Richardson were the ones who performed well in the previous match and combined 34 points for Suns against Utah’s Jazz, but this time their combined
contribution for the Lakers was only 27 points.
Hedo Turkoglu, who missed all three of his shots in the first half, had only nine points on four-of-seven shooting for the Suns.
The match was nearly in the hands of the Suns as the Lakers were leading by just one point. The Lakers shot 46.4% from the field in the first quarter to open a one-point
lead over Phoenix. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with eight points and Pau Gasol had six points, three rebounds, and three assists in the first quarter. The Suns shot 50% from the field in the first quarter. Grant Hill had seven points to lead Phoenix.
The beginning of the second half was a bit hopeful for the Suns as Goran Dragic sparked the Suns by scoring 10 points in the first six minutes of the period. The final
three came on a pretty drive where he spun around Steve Blake, and then hit a floater over a leaping Matt Barnes. Grant Hill continued to be aggressive, and added six more points in the second quarter.
On the Lakers side, Pau Gasol dominated the second quarter and continued to exploit the fact that the Suns have no answer for him defensively, and ended the half as the
Lakers leading scorer with 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
The third quarter remained favorable for the Suns as they quickly cut the halftime deficit from seven to two, before the three-pointers started flying. At one point in
the third quarter, the score was tied, 76-76. Then the Lakers went on a 9-0 run to open an 85-76 lead. That is what helped the Lakers keep an eight-point lead entering the fourth quarter. Los Angeles took control with a 19-6 run over the last 3 1/2 minutes
of the third quarter. Grant Hill continued his strong play with seven more in the period, but the Lakers once again closed this.
The fourth quarter remained interesting and the Lakers extended their lead to 13 a couple of minutes in, on the strength of two three-pointers by Matt Barnes. Channing
Frye missed three-pointer in the final phase and Lakers stamped the match by an 8 point lead over the Suns.
The victory of the Lakers against the Suns remained very memorable for the head coach, Phil Jackson as he became the fifth coach in league history to win 1,100 games and
did it faster than the other four coaches. It took him only 1,560 games to reach the destination. Jackson is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Los Angeles Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, October 31, 2010 at Staples Center, Los Angeles. Warriors had proved themselves by defeating Los Angeles
Clippers by 91-109 at Oracle Arena, Oakland.
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