Lakers v. Suns Game Five: There Will Be Drama

Kobe Bryant is stripped by Grant Hill on the first possession, but Nash misses the three coming back. Amar'e Stoudemire rejects Pau Gasol twice, then Steve Nash is heady to move into Derek Fisher's static hand to get the arc free throws. Nash makes two of three, and that's the first points. Andrew Bynum gets a foul on Stoudemire with a tangle of feet, and the possession ends with Ron Artest taking a three second violation. Nash hits a three, and that's a fast 5-0 lead, all on defense. Not your father's Suns. Kobe hits to break the streak, and Stoudemire to Hill is awkward and a turnover. I'm of the opinion that you want Kobe scoring early, because that means others won't get in rhythm... but that won't happen, as Kobe picks up his second foul and sits. Laker Fan Is Not Pleased, and Jason Richardson scores in the post to make it 7-2. Fisher misses a three, and the Lakers get the board and remember that they have better bigs by volleyballing it; the result is a Gasol trip to the line, where he makes both. Robin Lopez misses but steals the board, and gets a non-shooting foul. Stoudemire with incredible body control for the old-school three, and it's 10-4 with the Lakers already in the penalty. Lopez with a cheap foul on Fisher on the perimeter, and Channing Frye comes in for Lopez. Artest forces a drive, but the Lakers keep possession. Brown is blocked and the Suns get two three point attempts out of it, but Hill and Richardson miss, and Gasol gets it on the other end. Hill responds with a three, and the lead is seven. If nothing else, by the time this game goes to the bench, the Suns should be ahead... and the bench was dynamite.

Testy misses a three that could have been big. Richardson owns Fisher in the post; 15-8. Brown misses as Nash doesn't lose him 1-on-1. Hill misses deep in the clock. Fisher drives and dives, and gets the call as we go to commerce, and I put the kids to bed. More later.

I get back to an entirely different game, as the Lakers lead 45-28. I guess the light switch has gone on... but the Suns get a Nash jumper and a Hill old-school three, so maybe they just need me to watch. Kobe turns it, and Amar'e gets to the line as Fisher's attempt to draw a charge is too far down the lane. Stoudemire makes the first and misses the second, but the Suns get the board. Artest with a steal, but Kobe's three is long. Hill misses, but the Suns get the board, leading to an Amar'e miss. The Lakers call time, and it's 45-34 with 3:22 left in the half, with the home team clearly doing the job on defense.

Odom with an easy look in the paint, and the lead goes back to 13. Richardson gets it back with a nice drive and reverse. Testy's three spins out, but Odom follows. Two turns follow, and Amar'e drives and scores. Kobe misses in traffic, and Nash hits over Odom to cut the lead some more. Bryant misses, and Gasol is whistled for felling Richardson. The guard makes one, and it's 49-41, with a 13-4 Suns run. Gasol is fed off penetration and gets a Hill foul. Two makes, and the lead is 10. Nash and Richardson miss three pointers around an Amundson board, and Richardson compounds the error with an open court gamble foul on Fisher. Two makes pushes it to 12, and this is going the wrong way for drama. Nash makes a pull up, but when he's not passing, they aren't good. Brown's airball at the buzzer leads to a spectacularly stupid Testy foul, his third, which puts Hill on the line with 0.7 seconds left. Just absolute gift points for the road team there. Hill makes both, and the half ends as Lakers 53, Suns 45. We've got a ball game, even though the Suns look pretty bad.

At the half, the TNT crew cite the contributions of Sasha Vujacic and the Lakers getting back to the triangle against a man to man defense when Kobe was out, rather than the discombobulation zone that's been working for them. It's also telling that the free throw line advantage for the Suns has disappeared, but the real story from what I can tell from the box score is that the Lakers are getting the good Lamar Odom. The most important Laker (in that, unlike Kobe, you never really know what you'll get from him) has 12-6-1 on 5 of 7 shooting in 16 minutes, which means the combined 0-for-6 that they've gotten from Bynum and Testy hasn't been deadly.

Richardson and Lopez get stuffed at the cup, then Bynum gets an Amar'e foul on the other end, and that 24 seconds, in microcosm, is why the Sun bigs aren't able to provide enough. Lopez spins his wheels down low, and Phoenix is looking shaky. Bynum is a bear on skates and ends up burning the clock. Stoudemire makes from mid-range to cut it to 8. Bryant over Nash, and that's too easy for him. Nash answers to trade the hoop. Suns go zone, and after a block, Fisher misses a three for a Suns team board. Nash misses off a Hill pass, and Fisher curls to the cup to make it 10 again. Bynum with a touch foul on Nash at the baseline. Stoudemire gets a marginal call on Bynum for his fourth, and if we do see Celtics-Lakers, the pule off for foul calls from him and Kendrick Perkins will be intense. Two makes, and it's 8 again; just hanging around. Testy with a miss and it would have been two, but Hill's called for a blocking foul. The Suns can't give Testy enough three point looks right now. Gasol is blocked at the cup, and the Sun defense is trying hard. After a miss, Stoudemire can't get the ball away before his foot lands, and that's a travel as the Sun big men miscommunicate. Odom to Gasol at the cup for a flush, and the lead's 10 again; Odom is the best Laker tonight.

Nash trapped and heads it off Fisher with three seconds left. A lob doesn't work, and Fisher takes a foul with an elbow to Amar'e. Frye's three misses, natually, and Gasol makes a flat footed baseline shot. A Richardson turn leads to a Laker fast break as Testy gives it up, and the 6-0 run makes the lead 14. There's no reason to think Phoenix can steal this game right now.

Stoudemire blocked by Testy as the Laker defense looks world-class again. A turn is matched by Testy stripping Nash and scoring, and this one is not long for the world... but Frye hits a three to stop the bleeding. Kobe makes in the trees as the Sun zone looks tenuous. Richardson with a curling make and foul, and misses the extra. Fisher with a make, and when he plays well, the Lakers are ridiculous. Amar'e with a turn as we're in Going Away Time here. Fisher three misses, but Odom boards and Gasol makes, and the second chance points are 16-0 for the Lakers. Kobe blocks Amar'e - wow - and Stoudemire prevents the exclamation point with a block on a stuff after a Frye foul. Odom makes one, the lead is 18, and with just under 16 minutes left in this game, failing a barrage of threes and some Laker boneheadedness, this one is over.

Nash with an impressive three. Heh. Kobe misses, and the Suns are very lucky to keep after good defense and sloppy ballhandling by Nash. Frye with an airball before commerce, which means he'll get to hear it for a good five minutes. So much for Fye, I suspect. It's 74-59 with 15 minutes left.

Luke Walton in with a miss, Odom can't finish on a putback, and the Suns run with Jared Dudley getting the old-school three, and Kobe's third foul. The free throw is missed, but Richardson misses a three that would have mattered, and Kobe responds with a make. Frye hits on pressure, maybe the first time in this series. Walton can't finish, and then Dudley hits a three with Gasol fouling him. Wow. Major spark from Dudley here, and the four point play cuts the lead to nine and quiets the crowd. The run is 11-2 now.

Fisher misses as the courtside mics pick up clear profanity. Nash feeds Hill awkwardly in the open court, and Laker Fan wants vengeance, but it ends with a Leandro Barbosa trip to the line. Two makes cuts it to seven, and Nash gets some rest. Jordan Farmar feeds Gasol on a tricky pass for the slam, but Frye answers with a three, and it's a six point game. Interesting. The final play of the quarter is Kobe in Hero Mode that doesn't work, and he's lucky not to get the technical from the ref displeasure. Looks like we've avoided garbage time, at any rate. 78-72 Lakers at the end of three.

Frye loses Odom, who scores on a re-post layup, then misses a three. Bryant's long three makes it 11 in a hurry, and Goran Dragic misses by a mile, then takes a foul on Fisher as Doug Collins fellates Sasha Vujacic. Gasol misses, but so does Dudley as the refs put the whistles away... that is, until Kobe touches it, and he picks up a Dragic touch foul. The Lakers violate the clock and the audience's eyes. Barbosa's rainbow airball misses, and Frye is blocked by Gasol twice before he gets a foul. Vujacic and Dragic get into each other for a double technical, and it's clear that these guys have something personal going on. Heh. Barbosa makes both to cut the lead to 9.

Bryant's three misses, and Vujacic's fresh scrub legs stops the break. Kobe with a technical as this game's getting sloppy, but Barbosa misses the freebie. Can't have that. Frye with a nice pass to Amunson for a layup, and it's seven. Dragic gets his fourth as Kobe sells the trip. Bryant can't get the jumper to settle, and Frye gets Bynum's fifth on an aggro drive to the hoop. Impressive road game for Frye, who seems to be getting better as the series goes on.

Gentry chastises his team gently. Frye at the line makes just one, and the Suns keep leaving points at the line. Farmar can't get the roll, but Dragic misses and Vujacic hits a three. Dragic responds with a three, and that's big on many levels. Barbosa fouls Bryant, who then hits a tough one; he's been huge. Frye hits another three, and the lead is five, the lowest it has been in some time. Wow. Bryant can't make against monster presure. Dragic overdribbles, misses, and it leads to Bryant to Gasol for a cheapie. Ouch. Six minutes left. Barbosa misses, and Vujacic boards. Bryant nearly hits a bailout three, but it stays out; as good as the Suns have played on defense, the Lakers have also had a half dozen shots just spin out. It's a close game, and you get the feeling that the Lakers could get thieved here... but it's still real hard to see happening. 90-83 Lakers with 5:22 left as we go to commerce.

Dudley at the line makes both, and the lead is five. Suns have missed nine free throws tonight, so you do the math. Fisher hits a corner three that's a back-breaker. Dudley to Amar'e at the cup for a stuff. Can Phoenix get stops? Gasol misses over Frye, and Dudley boards. Nash hits a tough crossover stop and pop, and the lead is four with four minutes left. Kobe with a make as the Suns can't deny him the ball, but Nash blows by Fisher and gets the old-school three, and the lead is now three. Just chip, chip, chip... kind of amazing. Nash with 25 and 10 assists now. 3:30 left.

Kobe misses on Hero Mode; no foul on Richardson. Nash to Amar'e at the end of the clock, and it was ugly but a hit... and then Fisher hits a backbreaker three. Good grief. If the Suns can get Testy to take a shot, I like their chances for stops, but right now it's too much Kobe and Fisher to be denied.

Frye misses a tying three. Bryant to Gasol, who goes to the line on Amare's fourth foul. Unlike the Suns, Gasol makes his free throws, and the lead is five with two minutes left. Nash makes over him, and that was critical. Kobe to Bryant on the baseline for an easy one; back to five. Nash over Gasol again, and the lead is three with 80 seconds left. Can Phoenix get a stop? Testy misses, then takes a three and misses as Laker Fan howls in frustration. Just unspeakable in its stupidity; the Lakers could have taken the clock down to 32 seconds left with a 3-point lead or better. Instead, there are 51 seconds left, and the Suns have the ball. Wow, wow, wow.

Frye's second attempt to tie with a three doesn't connect, but Gasol misses a slam that would have clinched it. The Suns bring it back down the court, and get three attempts at a three -- just unreal -- and Richardson finally hits the longest and most desperate one. Tie game with 3.4 seconds left, which is an eternity for Kobe, but how it ever got to this point is just unconscionably stupid ball by the Lakers.

Odom inbounds, and Bryant misses from distance... but Artest, of all people, gets the board and put back at the buzzer to win it. Un Freaking Real. They review for no reason, as Testy got it off well before the buzzer, and as much as I hate the Lakers and hate Artest... that was pretty amazing. Sure, you can blame Jason Richardson for not blocking him out, but Testy has muscles for a reason, and blocking out close to the rim on long jumpers is not exactly automatic. It's also not the first time in this playoff season that the Lakers have won with Kobe missing and the Lakers converting on a putback. And it's not as if the Suns had the ball in their hands with a chance to win. Your final is Lakers 103, Suns 101.

Can the Suns force a Game Seven? Of course. There's a real chance that Bryant is getting worn down by all of the minutes, and the Suns should get more out of Stoudemire, who only had 19 and 4 here. Had the Suns not missed nine free throws, this could have been a very different game. Phoenix will have to figure out how to get Nash to be a passer again. But it's not as if Gentry hasn't shown himself to be inventive in these games.

Could they beat the Lakers twice in a row? Probably not, of course. There's a reason that the Lakers are the world champions, and Pau Gasol's 21-9-5 tonight tells you all that you need to know about how the Lakers are reacting to the Suns zone. But at some point, you just have to be thankful for the game you watch, because these have become suddenly great. (How great? I'm going to miss a poker game to make sure I see every minute of it. This just trumps.)

Game Six is Saturday night in the desert. See you here then.