Top 5 List: Reasons to Love the Suns-Lakers Series

Happy Cinco De Mayo. Since today is the fifth of May I’ve decided to give you five reason why you should love the Suns-Lakers series. This will be a short, sports related post, so as usual you artsy types may want to stay away. With out further ado: The Top 5 Reasons to Love the Suns-Lakers Series.

1. Game 7: In all of sports there’s nothing better (I’m ducking as I type this for fear that the March Madness gods will smite me). Game 7 is always dramatic, tension filled, and usually lives up to its billing because both teams are playing so hard to keep their seasons alive. This game should be no exception, because not only is both teams, but Phil Jackson has never lost a first round series. And that’s just one of the many subplots of this great series that will get into… now.

2. Raja vs. Kobe: The media will over hype this and beat it to the ground by tip off tomorrow, but holy balls is has this turned into one bad ass feud. You could tell something was brewing for the first 4 games and then with out warning Raja gave Kobe his version of the “Clothesline from Hell”. As if that wasn’t great enough Kobe got right up trying and tried to play it cool, but it looked to me like he was holding back tears. That right there is all you need for a good feud, but God bless these two they decided to make it great. If you haven’t heard or read the war of words that transpired after the clothesline, then track it down on. To summarize Raja pretty much called Kobe a stuck up, arrogant c*nt. In response Kobe suggested that maybe Raja wasn’t hugged enough as a child. Just classic. The tension between these two will be electric Saturday night, and it could lead to a baseball style bench clearing brawl. Thanks to these to the ceiling of this series has been removed. Anything’s possible.

3. The Redemption Angle: Three months ago it looked like Tim Thomas might not play at all this season. And last night he just hit the biggest shot of the Suns season. When most people think of Kwame Brown they think of Ryan Leaf, not a good sign. But at times in this series Kwame has looked like and all-star, other times he’s looked like a skinny Oliver Miller. I’m actually shocked that journalist aren’t making a bigger deal out of this. I think both of these guys are the X-Factors for their teams, whichever one of them steps up more tomorrow will help their team when the series. And speaking of redemption, that guy on the Lakers who scores a lot was once accused of rape.*

4. Bad Blood and Posterizing: Due to the fact that both are MVP candidates, the tension between Nash, Kobe and their respective teams has been at an all-time high for a first round series. Several times a game the teams have gotten into shoving matches and Kobe and Steve are always in the middle of everything. And if that’s not enough Kobe dunked on Nash, although is it really dunking on someone when you’re 6-8 and their 6-2 and white? Yeah I didn’t think so either. Well last night Shawn Marion, who’s apparently no longer afraid to play basketball, nutted all over Kobe’s forehead in overtime. Thanks to all this tensions will be even higher tomorrow night. And they’ll rise even higher when one of the Lakers scrubs, by money’s on Kwame or Devon George, delivers a payback foul to Raja Bell. To quote Paul Westernberg, I can’t hardly wait.

5. The Battle for Kobe: For the first few games of this series Phil Jackson had mad Mike D’Antoni his bitch. He had absolutely manhandled him in the coaching department and at times seemed to be toying with him. Then finally D’Antoni struck back. He started double teaming Odom, keeping Bryant out of the lane and got his shooters confidence back. He’s done all this with little to no fan fare, but Mike D’Antoni’s adjustments are a huge reason why there’s a game tomorrow night. Which brings us to Kobe. The last two games Kobe’s been scoring more, and as great as he is this creates a problem for the Lakers. When they’re pounding the ball inside they’re controlling the tempo and substantially slowing down Phoenix’s running game. But when Kobe’s scoring, he’s doing it on jumpers and/or with the other four Lakers standing and watching. This makes it much easier for the Suns to run and get in an offensive rhythm. And Phil can get Kobe to be a distributor and pound the ball in the paint, then the Lakers will control the tempo and the game. But if D’Antoni’s game plan works and Kobe tries to do it on his own then the Suns will control the tempo and the game. Which ever coach gets Kobe to run his game plan, that man will be victorious tomorrow night.

And there you have it. Enjoy this game, and remember it a month from now when the Spurs and Pistons are playing for the NBA Finals again and setting basketball’s watchablitiy** back several decades and you’re trying to remember why you like basketball.

Until We Meet Again

* Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
** I realizes this is not a word, but it should.