Liveblogging Lakers-Suns, Game 4

I had originally wanted to explore the suggestions of eminent economist and former Secretary of Finance Jesus Estanislao on nation-building in the aftermath of the recently concluded Philippine National Elections, but a serendipitous series of events led me, instead to liveblog the Lakers-Suns game:

1. I'm battling a nasty cold. As one doctor had already recommended a virtual house arrest as a way of arresting my incessantly leaking proboscis, I am loathe to entertain yet another doctor's advice regarding anything. And yes, I realize that Medicine and Economics are entirely different fields of study, but just this once, I would like to recall my youthful misadventures in healing and thumb my nose up at doctors of all stripes.

2. Manuel just marched into our room to inform his mama, in my presence, that "I don't like papa". For some weird reason, probably related to this nasty cold that has frozen my mental state firmly in between petulant adolescence and early adult ennui, his telling on me fills me with pride. There isn't a single passive-aggressive bone in my 2nd son's body. And just in case I missed his earlier pronouncement, he rolls on top of me, and onto his mama, looks me in the eye and says "I don't like you". For the record, the reason he doesn't like me right now is because I told him that playing with his papa's umbrella indoors is not a good idea.

3. And because Manuel felt I wasn't sufficiently repentant for my transgressions against him, he just pooped in bed. You gotta respect a little boy who is so single-mindedly determined to make his point that he is willing to poop in bed just to spite papa.

Thus, we have the liveblog of the Lakers-Suns game.


8:47 am

My liveblog of the Lakers-Suns game is off to an inauspicious start as my good friend and die-hard Lakers fan, Ralph Lumo, refuses to answer his phone. Now that's a shame. Ralph is the sort of fanatic whose day rises and falls according to the performance of his sports teams.

9:05 am

Both teams are playing intelligent basketball right now. Lovely ball movement frees Derek Fisher to score the first 2 points of the ballgame, and Steve Nash's unparalleled court vision finds Grant Hill for a midrange jump shot.

Ballgame is tied at 6.

9:10 am

Robin Lopez and Amare Stoudemire are outhustling and overpowering the Lakers big men right now. Lopez has been very good all series.

Kobe finds a cutting Gasol rolling hoopward for two points, and a trip to the line for a freebie. Amare gets whistled for the foul, the softest foul I've ever seen anyone above 6"10 has ever given in the NBA playoffs. Vince Carter might be "Half-Man, Half-Woman", but Amare's inviting comparisons to one of the NBA's softest pseudo-superstars. You have to make those fouls count, brother!

And so we switch, for the embarrassingly active minority of my readers who live abroad, to game time to avoid confusion.

4:57 in the 1st

Gasol finds Odom for an easy layup. Amazing passer for a big man. And Odom's such an upgrade over Bynum it's like comparing a 1997 Honda Accord to a 2010 BMW 320i.

On the next possession, Channing Frye has missed his nth 3-pointer for the series. On the next play, he finally gives up camping along the 3-point line, goes up strong for an offensive rebound and gets fouled in the act of shooting. Hopefully these freebies help him find the shooting touch that seemed to desert him just as Lost, House, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother started winding down their seasons.

Lakers are up 19-16.

1:44 in the 1st

Amare with a lovely drive towards the hoop. As helpless as he is on defense, he is dynamic offensively when facing the hoop. Of course, he was doing the shake and bake on Gasol, who's not an exceptional one-on-one defender.

0:37 in the 1st

Goran Dragic, the other half of the most ridiculous rivalry in the NBA, makes a tough shot. His nemesis, Sasha Vujacic, who has been chained to the Lakers bench all playoffs, can only look on with smoldering Slovenian spite.

The quarter ends tied at 23.

10:33 in the 2nd

Dragic hustles Kobe into a jump ball situation. The Lakers get the ball back, but you gotta admire Dragic's desire. Dragic slices through the Laker defense by practically circumnavigating the world for a tough layup, and Amundson follows a botched Bynum attempt with a layup of his own. High energy plays all around from the Suns.

Jackson re-inserts Odom.

Suns up, 32-27.

8:00 in the 2nd

Leandro Barbosa continues his resurrection in Phoenix by hitting another shot. Doug Collins, "He can get hot in a hurry". In related news, Bryant has just hit consecutive jump shots. He's not looking for his offense yet.

6:57 in the 2nd

Frye finally hits a 3-pointer! Amazingly, the Suns crowd give him a standing ovation. After another Jared Dudley 3-pointer, this time off a Dragic pass, the Suns are up, 44-34. Dragic pass. It sounds like one of those melodramatic last stands that seemed to occur with disturbing regularity during early 20th century warfare. But not to these Suns.

Phil Jackson calls a timeout. He needs it. Suns are up, 44-34.

5:15 in the 2nd

Kobe hits back to back 3-pointers. You can see it. He's locked in. This is a critical juncture for the Lakers. Will Kobe try to shoot them back into the game, or will he just do enough to set up his teammates for good looks?

3:53 in the 2nd

It's raining 3-pointers! After an unlikely 3-pointer by Artest, Frye hits another 3-pointer. Kobe follows with a 3-pointer of his own, but Nash finds Frye in the corner for another 3-pointer.

Kobe hits yet another 3-pointer and I've now put the phrase "3-pointer" in my clipboard for easy pasting. Nash finally hits a jumpshot to end the 3-point torrent, but this has been very entertaining and instructive basketball so far. The Lakers are just willing their 3-pointers in, while the Suns are nailing their 3-pointers out of design.

Suns are up 60-52.

I try calling up Ralph again, but no dice.

And we end the half with the Suns up, 64-55. The story for the half has got to be Suns bench, who have outscored their Laker counterparts 34-11.

In recognition for the madcap fun that the Suns exemplified with their play during the 1st half for halftime, allow me to share Moymoy Palaboy's hilarious video, How to Ride a Jeep.



See you in 10 minutes!


Start of the 3rd

And, just like that, swift as winged dreams, we're back. Ralph still hasn't answered my calls, which seems fitting as the Lakers have yet to truly make their presence felt in this game. Early foul trouble for Gasol, and the blisteringly hot 3-point shooting of the Suns have discomfited the Lakers so much that they have yet, as a team, to find a rhythm for this game. If it weren't for the strong individual play of Kobe, Artest, and Odom, these Lakers would have been blown off the floor.

Thanks to the trusty Internet, I find out that while the Lakers committed only 5 turnovers for the 1st half, the Suns committed only 2. That's amazing!

Kobe begins the Laker offensive with a beautiful shot fake that gets him to the line. Derek Fisher whips a bullet pass to Artest, who converts a difficult layup in the paint.

But Amare goes right at Gasol with successive drives to the hoop, and Bynum, as usual, arrives too late to help out.

Suns lead, 70-62.

9:22 in the 3rd.

Kobe hits a long 3-pointer in early offense. Lakers within 5. And off a Suns miss, Kobe punishes them with yet another 3-pointer. Lead is down to 2.

Amare splits his free throws, and Bynum partially redeems his poor defensive play by following up Artest's dribble drive.

6:30 in 3rd.

A relentless Robin Lopez doesn't give up on a Suns miss and puts one in over both Gasol and Bynum. As Doug Collins observed, "Lopez just wanted it more".

Equally relentless, Kobe wills in another tough jumpshot to make it 77-74, in favor of the Suns. Refusing to bow down in the face of Kobe's macho play, Nash endures another vicious swipe to the face. Doug Collins, who is also at the top of his game remarks, "Nash is going to need plastic surgery at the end of the playoffs".

Nash tries to make the same dribble drive baseline pass to Amare, but the Lakers disrupt it on successive occasions. Kobe is locked in like threats to Homeland Security at Guantanamo Bay. They're making a run here.

2:15 in the 3rd.

Kobe ties the ball game with a 3-pointer. 81-all. My Sweety comes in with some contractors who look in on the pool area. Unfortunately, Tina also asks me for my opinion regarding some improvements to be done. Not wanting to disappoint my Sweety, I tear my eyes away from the game.

End of 3rd.

It ends with the Suns holding on to the slimmest of margins, 85-84. Gritty Laker comeback.

Start of the 4th.

Farmar nails a patient 3-pointer. Lakers take the lead, 87-85. Barbosa nails a long jumper to tie the ballgame. Dudley delivers a beautiful bounce pass to Amundson to re-take the lead.

Tina finally draws my attention to the KFC NBA Fully Loaded meal. It has a Zinger in it! Fantastic. I must try it. Of course, I had been watching the game for almost 4 quarters before my Sweety pointed it out for me, a reflection of how important she is to me, at least insofar as eating is concerned.

8:06 in the 4th.

Frye nails a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock! Suns lead, 92-87. Bynum with a dunk. Barbosa answers with a 3-pointer! The Suns bench is really bringing it. And yet another 3-pointer! Suns up by 9.

With all due respect to Alvin Gentry, if the reports are true, then his bench is correct. They are the finest 3-point shooting 2nd unit in the league. They should play to nail 3-pointers. A more deliberate pace just sucks the life out of them.

Lakers timeout.

6:47 in the 4th.

Just starting my Glee download, as surprisingly, Gentry decides to sit his starting unit and let his 2nd unit play on. Inspirational basketball coming from the Suns bench. And yes, I am sufficiently impressed by the energy of these Suns that I let slip a reference to my guilty pleasure, Glee. But then again, real men always allow themselves to be led by the manic purity of carefully executed passion. Uh, like the Suns, of course.

4:54 in the 4th.

Odom splits his free throws. Suns up by 9. And Goran Dragic comes up with the drive of the night, with a whirling spinning layup in off the glass. It's an 18-5 run by the Suns!

2:37 in the 4th.

Defensive 3-second violation by the Suns. Kobe drains the free throw. Gasol with the dunk. Lead is down to 6. Marv Albert is asking Doug Collins why the Lakers can't seem to adjust to the zone being thrown against them by the Suns. I suspect that the Lakers simply don't have the personnel to do so. If Bynum can't show effectively on help defense against Amare, then that presents a host of difficulties for the Lakers. More on this, maybe, later.

Kobe wills another jumper in. Suns up by 7.

1:12 in the 4th.

When Amare, ostensibly the softest rebounding big man in the league, beats you out for an important, contested rebound, perhaps it's time to reevaluate the performance of the Laker big men. Or maybe the conventional wisdom on Amare? Maybe.

The Suns bench has combined for 54 points and 16 rebounds. I think they will prove to be a significant factor throughout this series. It's not just the ability to hit 3-pointers. They bring an energy that even the Lakers starters are hard-pressed to match. I think the Lakers coaching staff has done a masterful job of masking the shortcomings of the Lakers bench thus far, but coming on the heels of this brutal bench beatdown from the Suns, they have their work cut out for them.

Final: 115-106. The series is tied at 2. Lakers-Celtics? How presumptuous!