This is getting interesting! You probably do not need any math to tell you the Suns bench lineup of Amundsen, Frye, Dudley, Dragic and Barbosa(+15 points) won this game for the Suns. For the series this lineup is +30 points in 20 minutes when Bynum and Odom are on the court, and last night the bench lineups was +18 points in 11 minutes against Bynum and Odom. Against Gasol and Odom, the bench lineup is -11 points in 10 minutes. For once Phil Jackson made a bad move, because he did not realize that he needed Gasol and Odom out there against the bench lineup. Clearly Bynum cannot move enough to cut off the Suns 3 pointers.
Gentry deserves tons of credit for going with 5 bench players and making it work. To my knowledge no other team this year has done this successfully. Of course, going with 5 bench players means you can have lots of minutes with your sterters on the court.
- By the way Frye last night still had trouble against Gasol Odom duo (Suns were-7 points here.).
- The Suns have many more degrees of freedom than the Lakers have in their lineup choices and it looks like this series comes down to Game 5! I think the Suns have a real shot here.
- I still think Lopez deserves more time but if Bynum and Odom are out there, the Suns bench should “make hay while the Suns shine.”
The one big problem that the Suns will have to deal with is now they have to win 2 out of three, with two games being played in LA. My gut says Lakeshow in 7.
Comment by Derek — May 26, 2010 @ 7:10 pm