NBA: West Finals Game 5 – Phoenix at Los Angeles

NBA: West Finals Game 5 – Phoenix at Los Angeles

2010-05-27

The Phoenix Suns, left for dead after Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, returned home and found life, winning both games over the Lakers to even the series at 2-2. The critical Game 5 contest is set for Thursday night in Los Angeles, and the winner will get a huge leg up. Oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com figure that team to be the host Lakers, as they are installed as 7.5-point favorites.

Los Angeles returns to the Staples Center where they are 41-7 (21-26-1 ATS) this season and need to reestablish control of the series. The Lakers are 12-3 ATS after three or more consecutive Over’s this year.

Kobe Bryant has been critical of his team’s defensive effort, however, others wonder if the Suns zone defense has gotten into the heads of L.A. players.

"It's the zone," Lakers center Andrew Bynum admitted. "We're settling for outside jump shots. They were out there moving that ball, they were confident playing at home and they really just shot the ball well. They had everybody spaced out so everybody's running around."

Though, as coach Phil Jackson pointed out, his team has shot 48.3 and 49.5 percent in the last two losses while averaging 107.5 points per game, but does some of the hesitation on the Lakers offense carry over unto the defensive end, causing lapses in concentration for a club not known for “Terminator” single-mindedness.

What the Lakers zone offense has also lacked is getting the ball into high post consistently, with cutters running baseline or weakside cutters slashing to the rim. While Ron Artest is still a fine defensive player, the loss of Trevor Ariza hurts the Lakers in this situation, since he has greater quickness, understands how to cut more effectively to the basket and is a more consistent three-point shooter than Artest.

Phoenix is bubbling with confidence and is 14-6 ATS in road encounters after a combined score of 205 points or more in a trio of tilts this season.

Channing Frye found his misplaced jump shot and the Suns reserves lambasted the Lakers bench 54-20 after being mildly ineffective for the first three games. "The bench played fantastic," the Suns' Steve Nash said.

Coach Alvin Gentry is earning his coaching “onions” as he left his bench players in the game for almost nine minutes of the final quarter, since they had produced 18-3 run, essentially putting Los Angeles away.

"We believe in those guys and they really believe in themselves," Gentry said. "I thought they were much better defensively than they were offensively, and they were great offensively."

Though no Phoenix player would publicly admit this, they know a Game 5 upset gives them best chance to win the series with Saturday’s conflict back at Planet Orange. A Game 7 win in L.A. would be a monumental task to pull off for Phoenix.

Sportsbook.com has the Lakers as 7.5-point pick, with total of 217.5. Pau Gasol and the rest of his teammates have to play like they did during eight-game postseason winning streak (7-1 ATS) and they are 18-5 ATS when tied in a playoff series since 1996. The Suns are 33-14 ATS after allowing 105 points or more and will have to solve the Los Angeles team in the yellow uniforms since they are 1-7 and 2-6 ATS in L.A.

TNT continues with the series at 9:00 Eastern and the Lake Show is 8-0 OVER after two straight games where both teams scored 100 points or more this season.

The StatFox Power Line shows a Pick em’, indicating there is still plenty of value on Phoenix.

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