Suns Look To Continue Hot Play Against Lakers

Fresh off their victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, the Phoenix Suns will continue their eight-game homestand on Monday when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers in a nationally televised tilt.

Phoenix’s homestand has gotten off to a perfect start. Except for a very brief stretch, they thoroughly outplayed the Cleveland Cavaliers and they never got much of a threat from a really bad T-Wolves team.

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The Suns hot play as of late has been thanks in large part to the emergence of Alex Len. Ever since he took the starting job from Miles Plumlee, that second-year center out of Maryland has really taken off, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

In comes a Lakers team, which has had a rough start to their new year. So far in January, the Lake Show has a 2-7 record with their lone wins coming at home against the Pacers and Magic.

The Lakers continue to be led by the great Kobe Bryant, who is now in his 19th season in the league. Despite the advanced mileage on his wheels, the future hall of famer is still averaging just under 23 points per contest to go along with 5.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds.

In recent games, the two guard has been more of a facilitator than a scorer. In his last game against the Cavs, Bryant had 17 assists and in five games this month, he has a total of 45 dishes. Bryant has scored 20 or more in only one of those games.

Fortunately for the Suns they may be getting a break. As of now, it appears likely that Bryant sits out Monday’s game. The Lakers would do it to get him a few extra days of rest and they wouldn’t say it, but to improve their tanking prospects.

Whether or not Bryant plays, the Suns will face a Lakers team pretty void of talent and the veteran players that they do have on the roster, haven’t played consistently at a high level.

Before his 23-point effort last night in Utah, Nick Young, the Lakers second leading scorer, was in the middle of a big-time shooting slump. Before last night, Swaggy P was only making 27 percent of his shots during January. Hopefully, he reverts back to his poor shooting on Monday.

Both Wesley Johnson and Carlos Boozer have been up and down as of late as well. Boozer just isn’t the offensive force that once was earlier in this career and he’s never been particularly good on the defensive end. Johnson has been hot and cold, something that Suns fans know all about.

Despite having only 12 wins on the season, it hasn’t been all bad for Los Angeles. There have been a few bright spots as well.

Ronnie Price, another former Sun, who has been a number of different teams over his career, has been a pleasant surprise for the Lakers. Price did not play last night against the Jazz due to a sore right elbow and it remains to be seen if he’ll play Monday. Jeremy Lin would get the start at point guard if that’s the case.

Tarik Black, who was picked up on waivers a few weeks back, has played well in the six games he’s put on a Lakers uniform. In just under 18 minutes per game, Black is averaging 8.0 and 5.7 rebounds. At only 23, he might be a piece that the Lakers can use for their rebuild.

On paper, this is clearly is a game that the Suns should win comfortably. With how bad the Lakers are on the defensive end (allowing 106.5 points per game), Phoenix should have an easy time of it on offensive end.

Games aren’t played on paper though and sometimes these are your toughest games because teams look past bad teams at times, especially with the tough stretch of games that the Suns have coming up. Getting off to a quick start and putting the Lakers away early will be critical to the Suns getting their 25th win of the season.

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