The Phoenix Suns were left bruised and bewildered after losing their second successive game to the surging Los Angeles Lakers in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals on Wednesday.
Despite delivering more than 100 points in each of the first two encounters in Los Angeles, the Suns have been unable to cope with the versatility of their bigger opponents.
“We are just having a hard time,” Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry told reporters after his team were beaten 124-112 at the Staples Center. “We can’t slow them down.”
PHOTO: AFP
“I thought we played well offensively, but every time we tried to make an adjustment to slow them down, they go somewhere else,” he said.
In Monday’s series opener, Lakers All-Star guard Kobe Bryant taunted the Suns as he piled up 40 points in a sensational masterclass to help the NBA champions to a crushing 128-107 win.
On Wednesday, Bryant became the facilitator, recording a playoff-high 13 assists as Spanish forward Pau Gasol weaved and drove his way through the Suns defense for a personal total of 29 points.
“You do a great job on Kobe, and I thought we did tonight, then they go to Pau,” Gentry said. “And we double-team Pau and there’s Lamar [Odom]. And we get it out of Lamar’s hand, Jordan Farmar makes shots.”
“There’s a good reason they’re the world champs, but we’ll keep plugging away. We’ll keep trying. We’re not going to give up and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
The series shifts to Phoenix for Game Three on Sunday when Suns forward Grant Hill knows his team have to come up with some answers.
“We have to figure it out,” Hill said after contributing 23 points in Wednesday’s match, 14 of them in the third quarter. “We’ve given up 120-plus [points] these past two games.
“We’ve scored enough points, but defensively, they’re scoring at will. We’ve just got to figure it out,” he said.
The Suns reached the Western Conference finals by beating the Portland Trail Blazers in six games and then sweeping the Utah Jazz in four.
Gentry is banking on his team rediscovering the winning habit when they return to their home court.
“We earned the right to be here [in the finals],” he said. “We’ll continue to try to find answers on how to get them stopped enough that we can win a game. Our goal right now is to win Game Three.”
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