SUNS BURN RIGHT THROUGH DEFENSE.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer So what happened to that vaunted vaunt v. vaunt·ed, vaunt·ing, vaunts v.tr. To speak boastfully of; brag about. v.intr. To speak boastfully; brag. See Synonyms at boast1. n. 1. Lakers defense that propelled them to victory in Game3 on Thursday? Yeah, that's right. That vaunted Lakers defense. That swarming, trapping, high-intensity defense that caught the Phoenix Suns so off guard the other night. As it turns out, it's still a work in progress. "It's kind of new, so everybody doesn't always know what to do or how to rotate yet," said Lakers guard Shammond Williams Shammond Omar Williams (born April 5 1975, in the Bronx, New York) is an American professional basketball player. The 6'1" combination point guard/shooting guard is known for his long-range shooting accuracy. In 2006-07 he played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA. , one of the defensive heroes Thursday night. "We haven't jumped screen-and-rolls or played screen-and-rolls like that all year. "Sometimes, when you're doing something new, you miss a few things here and there and it costs you." In Sunday afternoon's 113-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 4 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series, the Lakers defense cost them dearly. Over the past two playoff series with the Suns, the Lakers have not won when Phoenix breaks the 100-point mark. Sunday afternoon, the Lakers tried many of the same tactics -- jumping screens, trapping along the sidelines, switching off pick-and-rolls -- that were so successful Thursday night. But this time, Phoenix, or rather Phoenix's two-time MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. point guard Steve Nash Steven John Nash, OBC (born February 7, 1974),[1] is a Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nash was brought up in a family of sportsmen and he excelled in a variety of sports. , saw it coming and had an answer. Nash had just 10 points in Thursday's game and a pedestrian -- for him -- 13 assists. He also turned the ball over fivetimes. Sunday, Nash picked up the pace, passed out of of double teams, blew by the Lakers traps and dished dished adj. 1. Concave. 2. Slanting toward one another at the bottom. Used of a pair of wheels. Adj. 1. dished - shaped like a dish or pan dish-shaped, patelliform concave - curving inward out a career-high 23assists, one short of the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= playoff record shared by Magic Johnson “Earvin Johnson” redirects here. For the Milwaukee Bucks center, see Ervin Johnson. Earvin Effay Johnson, Jr. (born August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan), nicknamed Magic and John Stockton This article is about the professional basketball player. For the U.S. Senator from New Jersey, see John P. Stockton. John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent his entire career (1984–2003) as a . "They caught us on our heels a little bit last game," Suns guard Raja Bell Raja Bell (born September 19, 1976 in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands) is a basketball shooting guard who currently plays for the Phoenix Suns. Bell grew up in the greater Miami area attending Miami Killian Senior High School. said. "We hadn't seen that from them, ever. It was a great tactical move by Phil Jackson and the Lakers. ... But if they're going to play it like that, we're pretty confident having Steve making the decisions." Asked if he was surprised the Lakers did something so new so late in the season, Bell said, "No, not at all. Not when (they) were down 0-2 and the game before was pretty lopsided." Sunday, the Lakers new trick didn't work nearly as well. And once Phoenix built a double-digit lead, the Lakers largely went away from their "new" defensive game plan and focused on catching up to the Suns by speeding up the game. It didn't help that Game 3 hero Kwame Brown was largely ineffective as he battled back stiffness. Andrew Bynum gave the Lakers some good minutes in the first half, swatting twoshots, but he played just 3 minutes, 3 seconds in the decisive second half. With the Lakers top two centers failing to contribute, Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire had a field day, scoring 27 points and grabbing a career playoff-high 21 rebounds. Stoudemire, who is listed at 6-foot-10 but is more like 6-9, was in foul trouble Thursday and admitted that it limited his aggressiveness. Sunday, he had no such issue. The Suns out-rebounded the Lakers 44-39, an almost complete reversal from Game 3 when the Lakers held a 44-35 edge. "They surprised us on Thursday," Stoudemire said. "They surprised us and we didn't have a counter. But today, we knew it was coming and we were ready for it." ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Phoenix's Steve Nash holds his eye after being hit in the first half Sunday. Keith Birmingham/Staff Photographer |
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