The concept of being rusty and losing the flow of a progressive pace in the playoffs is quite possibly one of the most perplexing issues to deal with in all of sports. However, lucky for us, the Suns have to find a way to stay warm for seven days as well.
One could very well argue that this team is indeed vulnerable to having “too much time off” as was the case with Game 1 last year against the Rockets, in which the Lakers were about as impressive as Carl Lewis’ lovely rendition of the National Anthem.
My rebuttal to that point would be, hopefully the Lakers’ coaches and players alike, are able to look back to the aforementioned Game 1 and figure out how they can maintain the ebb and flow that they’ve been playing with during this 6-0 run. Playoff experience is not strictly relegated to what a player can learn during games.
The team obviously did not go about last year’s elongated period of rest correctly so that is something Phil and the coaching staff must address with all of the players. They did come back with a vengeance in Game 2 though so I’m quite honestly not concerned at all.
Bottom line, I don’t buy loss of rhythm and rust as being much of a hindrance. At the NBA level, none of these players should be so susceptible to things of that nature that it can completely derail their game for an entire series. Even if the Lakers come out flat and out of sorts in Game 1 next Monday, I don’t expect it to compromise the game, much less the series.
We have a true championship veteran ball club and our team leaders, Kobe and Derek, are amongst the best in the league, if not the absolute best. They know and realize all the same things that us fans do so rest assured, the Lakers will be ready on May 17th.
Rest up and stay hungry boys. History awaits you.
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