National Basketball Association

Lakers present a tall challenge for 2-seed Suns, but is this series over?

Published May. 30, 2021 7:34 a.m. ET

When your opponent is bigger, stronger and maybe even faster, what are you supposed to do?

That is the difficult question the Phoenix Suns face as they head into Game 4 of their first-round series against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

The Suns didn’t become the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by accident. They have a young star in Devin Booker, a future Hall of Famer at the point in Chris Paul and a skilled big man in Deandre Ayton. They’ve even shown they can beat the Lakers, triumphing in two of their three regular-season meetings, not to mention Game 1 of this series.

Still, all of that might not be enough.

That seems to be where common wisdom reigns across the NBA for the moment, especially after LeBron James toyed with Jae Crowder in the fourth quarter of Game 3, egged on by his Lakers teammates as if they were watching the Globetrotters take on the Washington Generals.

So, while the series isn’t officially over – the Lakers still have to win two of the next four games after all – perhaps in effect, it is. With the teams set to lock horns in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) let’s take a look at just how big this challenge is for the upstart Suns.

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Size matters

While NBA trends have zigged towards small, fast guys who drill 3-pointers, the Lakers have noticeably zagged.

This is probably not a workable strategy for most teams, but the Lakers are unique in that their primary playmaker is a 6-9 future Hall of Famer who can make 3-pointers (James), and their second banana is an athletic 6-10 future Hall of Famer who, while not a good 3-point shooter, does possess a strong inside-out game (Anthony Davis).

The Lakers have been cognizant of this uniqueness and have leaned into that advantage – stacking last season’s championship team with complementary big men Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee, and swapping that duo out for Montrezl Harrell and Andre Drummond this time around.

When the 3-point shooters go cold, there’s nothing like having multiple options in the post to mine for good ol’ fashioned paint points. This is an even greater advantage when the rest of the league has gone small. The Suns, for example, only have one player (Ayton) who can dream of matching up with that crew.

"(The Lakers) beat the Suns in a way that the Suns, and really hardly anybody else in the league, can counter," Chris Broussard said on "First Things First." "They used their size. They overwhelmed them with their size.

"I’ve been saying it forever that if you’re gonna go big and play Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis and LeBron James on the front line together, then play big! Don’t just go big, but then drive and kick and shoot 3s all the time and be finesse like all the other teams in the league, use your size to your advantage."

In the third quarter of Game 3, the Lakers scored all 13 of their field goals in the paint.

As Shaun Powell wrote on NBA.com, the Lakers are simply a bad matchup for the Suns: "They aren’t constructed to defend LeBron and Davis. Sure, few teams are. Other teams, though, can at least bring athletic bigs into the picture. Phoenix can’t."

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The injury situation flip-flopped

The Lakers slid down to the No. 7 seed in the West thanks to mid-season injuries to James and Davis. Once those two came back, it presented a bad matchup for 2-seed Phoenix.

Then, when Paul injured his shoulder in Game 1 of the series, the situation got much worse, forcing the veteran point guard and heady floor leader into a part-time role.

"The Lakers are physically and mentally more durable," Emmanuel Acho said on "Speak For Yourself." "I’m not going to come out here and say that Chris Paul is not tough, what I am going to do is come out here and say … he’s just not durable enough."

The extra rest between Games 3 and 4 could help Paul get ready to play, but according to the Suns, that’s far from certain. His injury is simply too hard to gauge.

Meanwhile, James has looked as healthy as ever, and Davis – who did come up hobbling on a chase-down block of Booker – has looked pretty healthy for the most part as well.

The Suns have some growing up to do

Booker looks like a rising star who will be an impact player for Phoenix for years to come. Ayton is a double-double machine who is adept at finding space to score inside. Even Cameron Payne has made an impact with his intensity and 3-point shooting (46.7% in this series).

But Ayton is just 22 and doesn’t have a lot of help against the aforementioned Lakers bigs inside. Booker is only 24 and is shooting just 28.6% from 3-point range. He also lacks Paul’s veteran craftiness and was ejected late in Game 3 for his two-handed shove of an airborne Dennis Schröder.

And Payne, while fun to watch, is a 26-year-old role player who also lacks composure on occasion.

All of this adds up to a dire situation for Phoenix, leading some to say the series is already over.

"The Suns have no answer for Anthony Davis," said Nick Wright on "First Things First." "And they have no answer for LeBron James, who is quite literally just trying out new things on the basketball court to keep himself entertained. ... This series is over, and it is not because an all-time great who gets hurt a lot, got hurt again."

But is it?

Perhaps the Suns could pack their defense inside in an attempt to turn the Lakers, who have shot just 27.6% from 3-point range in the series, into a 3-point shooting team.

Maybe Paul’s shoulder will feel better thanks to the extra day off. (Both Paul and Davis are listed as questionable for Game 4).

And perhaps Booker will find his shooting stroke and learn how to better channel his on-court intensity.

And perhaps LeBron’s flexing will inspire the Suns to find an extra gear.

This might not seem likely, as the Lakers appear to be playing better each time they take the court. But the playoffs are fluid and momentum can shift in an instant. Sunday's Game 4 on Sunday could provide some answers.

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