NewAgeBaller

You guys all happy with Shaq's performance tonight? I would be - those are the ideal stats you're looking for from Shaq (15/9 tonight), and more importantly he did what he said he'd do in making Amare's job easier (37/15 for him).

And he was hustling great in the 4th

Good game.

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CDRacingZX6R

I think it's fair to say Shaq playedfairly well for his first night back. I think the main problems will be the ones the heat had to deal with though. Will he have one good game, then two/three bad ones following durning stressful trips? His conditioning will need to go up, and only he can control that.

Over all though, If Bynum doesn't get healthy and Lakers have no real defender of Shaq's size when the playoffs roll around, as a Laker fan I'd be more than concerned.

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Jammin

Shaq didn't slow the Suns down at all. The Suns actually scored 2 pts over their season average for fast break points.

Shaq just needs to have better outlet passes.

bircan

We came together well as a new team playing its first game with Shaq, we should be happy about that, but losing to the Lakers will hurt if we don't take back the pacific division lead.

Coz I wouldn't wanna face a Lakers team full of confidence + Bynum in the Playoffs if they have this mental edge. At this stage, winning against the 1-10 seeds in the West will become a huge factor in the Playoffs, for the mentality of the team.

I look forward to this team continuing to gel and play hard against the Western powers.

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Bircan

Aylwin

I agree. Shaq seemed a bit out of place in the 1st half but looked more comfortable in the 2nd. All things considered, I think we played very well. We were right there till the end. Just had some tough breaks. But we'll defintely get better still.

I must admit though, the Lakers look like the team to beat. They're a tough match up for us and with a healthy Bynum...

DaRizzle

After reading this Im trying to estimate where you were in the game when you wrote this... If it was after the third quarter then with all due respect WTF?!?!?! Evidently according to the refs Phx played perfect D until about 2min left in the 3rd quarter. I literally was comical. It was so bad that I wasn't angry but laughing. In a way Im glad they were screwing the Lakers in the third sooo badly because I think it made the Lakers laugh it off too. Yes Odom got a tech but that was because he pulled a Kwame and missed a layup. That "double block" play against (i think) VladRad was bona fide R E T A R D E D... Evidently getting belly slammed by Shaq out of bounds isn't a foul...my bad

afobisme

imo, im not just saying this because im a laker fan, the reffing wasn't that bad.

im not sure how it was overall, because im probably bias... but it wasn't so blatantly bad that i was thinking "wow." but yeah i do remember thinking "wtf" when they said ronny pushed steve into amare.

IceMan23and3

wow, you just hurt my head reading this.... If you looked at the post above mine, which was posted one minute before mine, then you'd know at what point in the game I posted it..... holy crap....

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IceMan23and3

but he did.

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DaRizzle

.....

KillWill

come on man. in a few days, the pain from this loss, like so many others for this franchise, will start to fade. there are still a lot more games to be played, and if we're BOTH lucky, we'll get to see a 7 gamer between these two teams. again.

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"Some people, they play the piano. And some people, they move the piano."

-O. Schmidt

afobisme

im sort of split with this idea.. im not sure that my heart can take it. but at the same time, when i think back to the our 3peat days, i was always so elated when we had those legendary moments.. so happy, filled with joy.

604flat_line

I don't care to see another long series with the Lakers. The Lakers are just now a powerhouse due to Bynums emergence, but he's out too. If the Suns are who everyone thinks they are who cares about the Lakers, seriously, I don't care about anything but beating the Spurs and whatever team comes out of the east to see a championship in Steve's, Amare's and Bell's hands. If we don't get to the finals we have to have a GM change, coaching change or both. Finals or bust.

Jammin