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April 22, 2006
Ross Siler: Twelve hours to tipoff
Greetings from Phoenix, where Steve Dilbeck and I both flew in early this evening and had a great meal at Top of the Rock. So good that we were the last people left in the restaurant at the end of the night.
Between going to practice, writing and catching a plane, I will confess to not seeing any of Saturday's games. But I did catch the score of the Spurs/Kings game late in the fourth quarter - - I think it was 118 to nothing - - and thought Phil Jackson might have laughed.
This was what Phil had to say only hours earlier about facing the Phoenix Suns in the first round:
``Some of the staff members that I have were actually saying maybe it’s better to play San Antonio,'' Jackson said, ``because it’s a conventional team and we’ve had some successes against San Antonio in the past.''
But Jackson wanted the Lakers to win out a stretch of home games to finish the regular season, which brought them the seventh seed and a series with the Suns. He must have been happy not to see the Spurs, at least with how things worked out Saturday.
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The Lakers' best chance to win a title this season (at least for one player) might have come in Saturday night's NBA Development League championship game. But the Fort Worth Flyers - - with rookie guard Von Wafer on the roster - - lost 119-108 to the Albuquerque Thunderbirds.
There were several Thunderbirds with connections to the Lakers, starting with coach Michael Cooper. He now has won titles as an NBA player, WNBA coach and D-League coach. Former Lakers guard Tierre Brown finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. And Lakers draft pick Marcus Douthit had 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Douthit was a second-round pick out of Providence in 2004 whose rights the Lakers still control. He played overseas in Belgium last season and in the D-League this season. He is planning to play for the Lakers summer-league team again this July.
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I'm picking the Suns in seven, though I am far from convinced after watching them finish the season playing .500 ball. They are nowhere close to the team with Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson that advanced to the Western Conference Finals last season.
But the Suns still can put up 70 points in a half or hit 20 3-pointers in a game. They can extend a lead to double digits in a matter of minutes.
Lamar Odom was talking at practice Saturday about how the Suns are so good, they practically lure you into taking the shots they want to see.
He said they will be happy to leave a mismatch on the floor if it means that a team will throw the ball inside and watch as the Suns' defense collapse. The team then kicks the ball back out for an open 3-pointer, which gives Phoenix a license to run.
Hope you enjoy the game on Sunday.
Posted by Ross Siler at April 22, 2006 11:41 PM