April 21st: "Lakers have big plans" "Suns bemused by talk of Lakers' first-round upset" Lakers vs Suns Previews

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:59 am    Post subject: April 21st: "Lakers have big plans" "Suns bemused by talk of Lakers' first-round upset" Lakers vs Suns Previews

Lakers notes: Lakers have big plans
By ROSS SILER, Staff Writer

To counter a Phoenix Suns team that averaged a league-leading 108.4 points per game and set an NBA record by making 837 3-pointers this season, the Lakers will start inside with center Kwame Brown.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson already has anointed Brown "the featured guy" in his team's first-round series with the Suns, who start 6-foot-8, 215-pound Boris Diaw, a converted guard, at center.

Brown has averaged 12.4points and 8.6 rebounds since moving into the starting lineup last month after Chris Mihm was lost to a severe ankle sprain.

But Brown also has struggled to establish himself against Phoenix, playing only 21, 9, 17 and 26 minutes in four games this season. Brown averaged fewer minutes against the Suns than any team.

He finished with 19 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes Wednesday against the Hornets, going 7 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from the foul line. Afterward, Brown looked ahead to the Phoenix series.

"We want to try to pound them on the inside," Brown said, "and with Chris possibly coming back, we both are going to try to pound them down low and see what success we have."


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:02 am    Post subject:

Expectations Weren't Too High, but the Real Work Is Still Ahead
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 21, 2006

The Lakers began the season by hitting headwinds on the way to training camp in Honolulu, indicative of the difficult route pundits thought they would travel over 82 games.

Typical of tepid preseason projections: Only four of 12 writers and scouts surveyed by ESPN picked the Lakers to make the playoffs, none predicting a higher finish than eighth in the Western Conference.

The Lakers did a worthy job of becoming the seventh-seeded team in the West, but the numbers are beginning to stack against them again.

Aside from their 1-7 record against their first-round opponent, the Phoenix Suns, the last two seasons, they face the historic odds of seventh-seeded teams against second-seeded teams. Since the 16-team playoff format was adopted in 1984, only four of 44 No. 7s have advanced past the first round: Seattle in 1987, Golden State in 1989 and 1991, and New York in 1998.

Mathematically, it's a 9.1% chance of winning. In reality, the Lakers like their odds, based on their five-game winning streak and a surge to a season-best eight games over .500.

"I am really excited," said guard Smush Parker, who will draw the assignment of defending Steve Nash. "We feel like we have a chance at beating a very good Phoenix Suns team."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:04 am    Post subject:

Will Odom or Marion become unglued?

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES – ABC has cleared a prime Sunday slot for this series opener, and it's not just the Lakers' national popularity or the Phoenix Suns' exciting style that makes this an intriguing first-round playoff:

Lamar Odom vs. Shawn Marion: Lakers coach Phil Jackson is starting Luke Walton to match up Odom with Marion, who has become recognized as just the kind of all-around "glue" player that Odom is supposed to be.

Odom vs. Jerry Colangelo: Unlike Marion, Odom was initially left off the new Team USA roster by Suns chairman Colangelo. Odom was added only after Seattle's Rashard Lewis pulled out.

Odom vs. Boris Diaw: Odom is supposed to be the next Scottie Pippen, and when asked about that back in December, Jackson did acknowledge: "Lamar reminds me a lot of Scottie." But then Jackson suggested Diaw is the player "very similar to Scottie."

Kwame Brown vs. Diaw: Thrust into the role of 6-foot-8, 215-pound center, Diaw will start out guarding the 6-11, 250-pound Brown, who has emerged as the Lakers' key power player.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:06 am    Post subject:

League's top scorer set for playoffs' top scoring team
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By David DuPree, USA TODAY
Kobe Bryant led the NBA in scoring this season with 35.4 points a game, the highest average in 19 seasons, as he joined Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan as the only players to average more than 35 points in a season.

As impressive as that is, Bryant has his sights set on something higher: another NBA title.

The quest starts Sunday against Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns as the Los Angeles Lakers are back in the playoffs after failing to qualify last season for the first time in 11 years.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:08 am    Post subject:

NBA needs L.A. cooperation
BY TOM HOFFARTH, Columnist

Mark Jackson still can dish it out.

From his swivel chair of authority on ABC's NBA studio show last week, the league's No. 2 all-time assist man lobbed this opinion high over the rim: When all is said and done, Kobe Bryant will surpass Michael Jordan and be exalted as the greatest player in the association's history.

Jackson, of course, may or may not believe it. But that's his job these days, trying to emerge from a gaggle of talking heads - Sir Charles, Steven A., Magic, Scottie, Reggie, Kerr, et al. - who fancy themselves as experts on league matters this time of year.

In this instance, it provoked studio host Dan Patrick to accuse Jackson of having "a man-crush" on Kobe, and he continued to question Jackson's opinion during his ESPN Radio syndicated show this week.

Jackson does come from a position of expertise, a 17-year NBA career in which he ended up in the top 10 in games played and the top 20 in steals. And he did accomplish one other thing that very few in league history can put on their resume.

By some sort of cosmic fluke, he once helped get the Clippers into the playoffs.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:09 am    Post subject:

L.A. has two stories this postseason

Updated 4/21/2006 1:04 AM ET
If Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers and Elton Brand and the Los Angeles Clippers reach the second round, they will play each other.
Enlarge By Lisa Blumenfeld, Getty Images
If Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers and Elton Brand and the Los Angeles Clippers reach the second round, they will play each other.

By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Another NBA playoff season dawns in L.A., but the story lines are strikingly different.

The intrigue is not about another Lakers superstar feud, but the conspicuous absence of some Clippers from the lineup as L.A.'s second team fizzled down the stretch and finished as the No. 6 seed.

In that spot, according to NBA playoff rules, the 47-35 Clippers will have home-court advantage against the No. 3-seeded, 44-38 Denver Nuggets instead of starting on the road against the No. 4-seeded 60-22 Dallas Mavericks.

And the Lakers? So accustomed to being a high-profile soap opera, they are now like an obscure, largely ignored cable show in these playoffs.

A No. 7 seed, the once-mighty Lakers finished 45-37 and begin on the road against the No. 2-seeded Phoenix Suns, who, according to Lakers coach Phil Jackson, preferred to face the Lakers as opposed to the No. 8 seed, the Sacramento Kings.

Of course, Jackson is no novice when it comes to postseason mind games. He would have found a way to paint the '27 Yankees as underdogs.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:13 am    Post subject:

Watch for Suns and Stars

By Michael Wilbon
Friday, April 21, 2006; Page E01

Ultimately, sometime in late May, we'll get to the Spurs and the Pistons, to issues like whether Shaq and Pat Riley are relics now relegated to remembering the NBA Finals instead of actually getting there.

But the NBA playoffs are about instant gratification. And while the league is limited to two great teams, there are two fascinating series right out of the box -- both involving two players the basketball world is obsessed with -- the most intriguing team in the playoff field, and a fourth participant hardly anybody has paid attention to for more than two decades.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:56 am    Post subject:


Lakers: Not such a bad deal after all

BY STEVE DILBECK, Columnist

So, what do you think about the big trade now?

Another year later, and the Shaquille O'Neal deal is not looking like the worst disaster since "Kazaam." It is not the end of all things hoops in Los Angeles. Doesn't even resemble a truly awful trade.

That's not to say it was a thing of beauty, that the Lakers should not have insisted on including Miami's best young player - Dwyane Wade - for the game's most dominating center.

But a year ago, as Shaq led the Heat to a 61-21 record and the Lakers stumbled to an absolutely abysmal 34-48 mark, it had the makings of Delino DeShields for Pedro Martinez.

Shaq - his material fresh along South Beach - was charming the flamingos right out of Miami. The Heat was the new "it" team in the NBA. Miami became an immediate threat for the title.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were Team Chaos. Their new coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, was gone by midseason, like he knew something the rest of us did not. Kobe Bryant became viewed as the game's biggest ball hog. The team struggled to perhaps its worst season in franchise history.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:58 am    Post subject:

TEAMS TRUMP THE SUPERSTARS

Bruce Jenkins

Friday, April 21, 2006

Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs should defeat Ben Wa... Kobe Bryant could be perfect and lead the Lakers all the ... LeBron James won't be enough to hold off the Pistons and ... Ron Artest can't be expected to lead Sacramento past a fa... More...



The end will come much too soon for Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Ron Artest, and that's a shame. We'd love to uncork something radical here at Dead Wrong in Public headquarters, but there is a grim inevitability to Detroit playing San Antonio in the NBA Finals, a prospect that thrills neither the fans (outside those cities) nor the television networks.

It will be solid basketball, the closest we can get to the mold of pure teamwork set by the great Celtics and Knicks teams of the past, and there's much to be said for that. It's just that the Finals, at their best, mean superstars: Russell against West and Baylor. Rick Barry against the world. Magic against Bird, Jordan or Doctor J. This looks like another year of the deeper appreciation, settling in to watch the deadly Rip Hamilton, the slashing Manu Ginobili, the subtle brilliance of Tim Duncan.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:59 am    Post subject:

Playoffs a learning process for Lakers

Jackson has young team review basics for Spurs

By Jay Posner
STAFF WRITER

April 21, 2006

LOS ANGELES – It was something you might have expected to see with 10 days remaining until the start of the regular season, not the postseason.

The Lakers weren't just practicing the triangle offense, they were getting lessons on it from coach Phil Jackson.

A little late for that, isn't it?

“It is, but we expected it at the beginning of the season with the new guys we have,” assistant coach Brian Shaw said. “Phil made it a point to go back to the very beginning, to the basics. He felt like we had some slippage and we were getting kind of sloppy in our execution.”
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:02 am    Post subject:

Suns notebook: Suns, Lakers familiar postseason opponents
By Jerry Brown, Tribune
April 21, 2006
The Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers meeting in the NBA playoffs? No surprise there. This is Phoenix's 38th year in the NBA and the 26th time they've reached the postseason. In 10 of those playoff rides, they've faced the Lakers.
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But the Suns going into a Lakers series as the favorite? That hasn't happened quite as often.

Phoenix is just 2-7 in the previous nine playoff matchups.

In the first meeting, the Cinderella Suns took a 3-1 lead over Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor in 1969-70 with Jerry Colangelo running the Suns as interim coach. The Lakers came back to win the series.

Some of Phoenix's highest highs and lowest lows have come with the Lakers sitting on the opposite bench.

The only time the Suns were favored to win a series against the Lakers was in 1992-93, when they had 62 wins and MVP Charles Barkley. But the eighth-seeded Lakers shocked the Suns by winning the first two games in Phoenix — forcing the Suns to scramble to win the final three games, two in Los Angeles and a Game 5 overtime thriller at then-America West Arena.

And those Lakers didn't have Kobe Bryant.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:05 am    Post subject:

LA Confident of New Result in New Season

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, April 20, 2006

So what if the Phoenix Suns basically had their way with the Lakers the past two seasons.

So what if the Suns led the NBA in scoring this season. So what if the Lakers really didn't figure out how to defend the Suns during the regular season.

This is a new season, and the Lakers are a confident bunch, assured by how they finished the season.

The Lakers believe they can beat the Suns in the Western Conference playoffs, even if few others share their belief.

"I don't want anybody on this team thinking 'Can we beat them?' " Kobe Bryant said. "We're just thinking about tomorrow and just going from there."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:11 am    Post subject:

Who's Afraid of Kobe Bryant?
2006 NBA Playoffs - Western Conference

By JOHN HOLLINGER
April 21, 2006


How would you like to be the Phoenix Suns right now?

They worked hard all season to win their division and steal the no. 2 seed in the Western conference.They're feeling very happy that the conference's two best teams are on the other side of the bracket, and that they'll have some time to work out the kinks from a slow finish to the regular season.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:14 am    Post subject:

Mark Heisler's Rankings
April 21, 2006

1. Detroit (64-18 ) No one expected the Pistons to do what they did this season, last season or the one before, and they get better every season. (Last week: 1)

2. San Antonio (63-19) Major achievement for Gregg Popovich and Tony Parker, keeping the Spurs at the same level with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili hobbled. (2)


3. Dallas (60-22) Major achievement for Mark Cuban and Avery Johnson, taking the hardest step of all, from good team to elite team. (3)

4. Phoenix (54-28 ) Off the charts for Mike D'Antoni and Steve Nash, last season's coach of the year and MVP, who were way better this season. (4)

5. Miami (52-30) Too bad Pat Riley couldn't have come back to last season's team instead of this one, but GM Pat Riley messed that up. (5)

6. Cleveland (50-32) Who is this guy: LeBron James, who just turned 21, has now taken the Cavaliers from 17 wins to 35-42-50. (6)

7. New Jersey (49-33) In the end, the Nets were what everyone thought they'd be in the beginning, but they're still just a good little team until they show they can beat big ones. (7)

8. Memphis (49-33) Consensus choice to miss playoffs posts No. 4 record in the West. Franchise record was 23 wins when Jerry West arrived to take them to 28-50-45-49. (8 )

9. Clippers (47-35) Even if it didn't turn out to be all it could have been, these aren't your father's Clippers. (9)

10. Lakers (45-37) Major achievement by Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson, turning around last season's 34-win team, which optimists thought might win 42. (10)


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:15 am    Post subject:

Lakers' spring rests with Kobe
Paul Oberjuerge, Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - And for his next trick, Kobe Bryant will try to make the Phoenix Suns disappear.

Earvin Johnson still is in the Lakers front office, but this franchise's real 2005-06 "Magic'' has been Bryant.

Highest scoring average (35.4) in the NBA since 1987. Seventh-highest points total (2,832) in the history of the game, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.

There was the 81-point bomb he dropped on Toronto back on Jan. 2, biggest total in NBA history after Wilt's 100. The 62 he scored against Dallas the month before.

Twenty-seven games of 40 points or more; 48 of 30 or more. Seventy-five games when he led the Lakers in scoring, including the last 34 straight.

All while being chased by double teams, trapped, bumped, pushed and, still, vilified in any NBA precinct outside Staples Center.

"It's been a remarkable year for him,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Out of necessity he kind of carried us on his back the first couple of months. Then in the middle of the season he had some remarkable games, just went on a tear from that point on.

"Things just clicked for him.''
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:17 am    Post subject:

Playoff keys? We got 'em

Bob Young
The Arizona Diamondbacks
Apr. 21, 2006 12:00 AM

The playoffs haven't even begun, and already some of the experts are counting the Suns out of the championship picture.

For instance, ESPN's Greg Anthony, who once came off the New York Knicks bench in street clothes to attack Kevin Johnson from behind during a Suns-Knicks brawl, has blindsided them once again.

Anthony picked the Lakers to upset the Suns in the first round.
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Now, we would agree that the Suns are vulnerable because of their interior defense and weak rebounding.

But the Lakers sure don't look like a team constructed to take advantage of any Phoenix deficiencies.

What, Kwame Brown is suddenly going to turn into a shot-blocking, offensive-rebounding, lane-clogging menace?

We don't think so.

Lamar Odom has the ability to create a lot of problems, but history says that he always has had that ability. How often has he used it?

Anyway, we figure this series is going to be determined by factors beyond whether the Lakers switch to the Suns' pick and rolls or whether Kobe Bryant actually passes the ball to Odom.

Well, maybe that last one would make a difference.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:23 am    Post subject:

NBA Playoffs: LeBron is in, Kobe is back
By BRIAN MAHONEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Welcome to the postseason, LeBron. And welcome back, Kobe.

Sure, the Pistons and Spurs made for a great NBA Finals last year, and they would surely do it again if both get back, as expected, this time.

But for the playoffs to really be special, they need the league’s superstars to have their time in the spotlight. And make no mistake: LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are the biggest the NBA has to offer right now.

Both were sitting at home this time last year, and a couch or golf course is no place to cement an NBA legacy. That can only be done in a packed arena in May and June.

‘‘That’s a road you have to follow if you want to be considered among the great ones because it demonstrates that you’re either making the players around you better or management is putting better players around you in order to showcase your talent longer into the playoffs,’’ commissioner David Stern said last week.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:25 am    Post subject:

First-round playoff previews


No. 2 PHOENIX SUNS (54-28 ) vs. No. 7 LOS ANGELES LAKERS (45-37)

Season series: Suns won 3-1, even though Kobe Bryant averaged 42.5 points in the four games. Steve Nash and Raja Bell sat out the Lakers' only victory, and Phoenix averaged nearly 112 points in its three wins.

Storyline: This series is all about offense, so it could be the most fun of the opening-round matchups. The high-flying Suns and Nash, their MVP candidate, against NBA scoring leader Bryant, who also has MVP hopes.

Key matchup: Bryant vs. Bell. Lakers coach Phil Jackson respects Bell's defensive abilities, but Bryant has no use for Bell. After scoring 51 points in a loss at Phoenix he said, “I've got bigger fish to fry than Raja Bell. Are you kidding?”

X-factor: Kwame Brown. He may never reach the potential that made him the No. 1 pick in the 2001 draft, but Brown has had some of his best moments in the league in the second half of this season. The Suns will always give up rebounds and points in the paint, so there's a chance for Brown here.

Little-known fact: Phil Jackson has been an NBA coach for 15 seasons, and his teams have reached the playoffs every time. All of the past Jackson-coached teams have advanced at least to the second round, with nine winning the championship.

PREDICTION: SUNS IN 7.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:27 am    Post subject:

Kobe, LeBron big draws as post season play begins

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Welcome to the postseason, LeBron. And welcome back, Kobe.

Sure, the Pistons and Spurs made for a great NBA Finals last year, and they would surely do it again if both get back, as expected, this time.

But for the playoffs to really be special, they need the league's superstars to have their time in the spotlight. And make no mistake: LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are the biggest the NBA has to offer right now.

Both were sitting at home this time last year, and a couch or golf course is no place to cement an NBA legacy. That can only be done in a packed arena in May and June.

''That's a road you have to follow if you want to be considered among the great ones because it demonstrates that you're either making the players around you better or management is putting better players around you in order to showcase your talent longer into the playoffs,'' commissioner David Stern said last week.

''The campaign last year about the finals was, 'Where legends are born' and I think you could have said that for the playoffs. You clearly - in order to write yourself large in NBA history - have to be in the playoffs.''
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:29 am    Post subject:

Suns-Lakers matchup should be interesting
Phoenix has 7-1 series edge since Nash era began
Friday, April 21, 2006
FROM WIRE REPORTS
BRANIMIR KVARTUC ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kobe Bryant averaged a league-leading 35.4 points this season, making the Lakers a difficult playoff hurdle for any opponent.

Both teams, it seems, got the playoff matchup they wanted. Within a couple of weeks, we’ll know which one had it right.

Even if they didn’t say so publicly, the Phoenix Suns wanted to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Phoenix will play host to the Lakers on Sunday in the first game of the best-ofseven series.

The Suns, seeded second in the Western Conference, have a 7-1 record against the Lakers the past two seasons in the Steve Nash era.

"It won’t be an easy series," Suns coach Mike D’Antoni said. "But we’ll play our style of basketball and see where it goes."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:23 pm    Post subject:

Next target for Lakers: Suns
BY KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES - All this about Phil Jackson not wanting to play the San Antonio Spurs isn't entirely accurate.

Jackson just doesn't want to play the Spurs until the Western Conference finals.

The Lakers secured a route in Jackson's mind to surprise postseason success by crushing the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 115-95, on Wednesday night at Staples Center. That gave the Lakers the seventh seed in the West, which brings the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs' first round. That best-of-7 series begins at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Sunday in Phoenix.

And even though the 45-37 Lakers are the losingest team he has ever coached, Jackson looked ahead to the possibility of advancing past 54-28 Phoenix and advancing again past Denver or the Clippers in Round 2.

On Wednesday, the Lakers secured home-court advantage over Denver in a possible playoff matchup for the right to reach the West finals. If the Lakers met the Clippers in Round 2, obviously all the games would be at home.

"That bracket is probably the best bracket to advance," Jackson said.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 3:26 pm    Post subject:

Confident Suns bemused by talk of Lakers' first-round upset
Posted: Friday Apr 21, 2006 7:07 PM


PHOENIX (AP) - Here they come again, those small, swift, sharpshooting Phoenix Suns, attempting to defy conventional NBA playoff wisdom, this time against a Los Angeles Lakers team that rolls into the postseason after winning 11 of 14.

The Lakers' late drive on the shoulders of league scoring champion Kobe Bryant has ignited talk of a first-round upset for No. 7 seed Los Angeles against the second-seeded Suns.

"We constantly seem to be in a position where we have to prove ourselves,'' Phoenix's Steve Nash said after the team's workout on Friday. "That's OK. It's a position we don't mind being in.''

Game 1 is Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.

The Suns overcame the loss of Amare Stoudemire and, later, Kurt Thomas to injuries this season to successfully defend their Pacific Division title with 54 victories.

En route, they led the league in scoring, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, free throw percentage and assists.

The Suns are even smaller than last season, when they made it to the Western Conference finals, but this year's version comes at opponents with more speed and more shooters.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 7:54 pm    Post subject:

Lakers' Walton expected to practice
Associated Press

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton, accidentally elbowed in the left side of the face by New Orleans' Marc Jackson, isn't expected to miss any playing time.

Luke Walton
Small Forward
Los Angeles Lakers

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2006 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
69 5.0 3.6 2.3 .412 .750

Lakers spokesman John Black said Walton was expected to practice Friday with the Lakers, who open their first-round, best-of-seven playoff series in Phoenix on Sunday.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:23 pm    Post subject:

Lakers to own new D-League team
Posted: Friday April 21, 2006 11:59PM; Updated: Friday April 21, 2006 11:59PM
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- The Los Angeles Lakers have purchased a new team in the NBA Development League.

The team will begin play in November. The team's management, coaching staff and site of its games will be announced later.


The NBA's Board of Governors approved the
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