Lakers hold off Suns, take 2-0 lead
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The Los Angeles Lakers are halfway to another NBA finals and their fans already know who they want their dominant defending champions to play next.
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Lakers hold off Suns, take 2-0 lead |
Pau Gasol scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant had 21 points and 13 assists and the Lakers roared away in the final minutes for a 124-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night to claim a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Ron Artest scored 18 points for the Lakers, who won their eighth straight playoff game and moved within striking distance of a tantalizing NBA finals showdown with the Boston Celtics, who lead Orlando 2-0 in the East. For the second straight game, the chants rained down from the Staples Center crowd in the final minutes: "We want Boston!"
The Lakers remained unbeaten at home in the postseason despite a much-improved effort from the Suns, who lost the opener by 21 points. Phoenix tied it at 90-all heading to the final period of Game 2 but Gasol and Bryant flawlessly led the Lakers to another high-scoring victory, handing third-seeded Phoenix their first back-to-back losses since late January.
"We've been able to play both styles of basketball," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We like to control the pace but we feel comfortable if it's an accelerated pace."
The Lakers certainly seem to be accelerating the Suns' exit from the playoffs after hitting better than 57 percent of their shots and scoring a jaw-dropping 252 points in the first two games.
Game 3 is on Sunday night in Phoenix. But unless the Suns figure out a way to stop Los Angeles' versatile, poised offense, Beantown and Hollywood could be just a few days away from another chapter in their storied rivalry.
"We can't slow them down," Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry said. "I thought we played well offensively but every time we tried to make an adjustment to slow them down offensively they would go somewhere else. There's a good reason they're the world champs but we'll keep plugging away, keep trying."
The Lakers have lost only one best-of-seven playoff series in franchise history after taking a 2-0 lead, winning the other 41. The 15-time champions haven't won eight straight games in the same postseason since their famous one-loss run through the 2001 playoffs.
"We still scored enough points tonight but when they can score 120-something, that's asking the offense to score too much," said Phoenix's Steve Nash, who had 11 points and 15 assists. "If we're going to beat them we've got to find a way to slow them down."
The crowd enthusiastically booed Amare Stoudemire, who on Tuesday belittled Lamar Odom's 19-point, 19-rebound performance in the opener as "a lucky game". Stoudemire appeared determined to back up his words with aggression, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds while Odom had 17 points and 11 boards in another superb game off the bench.
