The Los Angeles Lakers successfully defended their home court against the Phoenix Suns earlier tonight. This will force a decisive Game Six which will be held in Phoenix on Saturday. Kobe Bryant was one assist away from a triple-double with 30 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 blocks. Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Lamar Odom all scored in double figures for the Lakers. The key for the Lakers tonight was limiting Amare Stoudemire's impact on the game. After Stoudemire erupted in Games Three and Four, he scored only 19 points and had 4 rebounds in Game Five.
With 3.5 seconds remaining, the game was tied 101-101. Phil Jackson and the rest of Laker nation had just witnessed Ron Artest put up an ill-advised three point jump shot just 51 seconds ago when he could have opted to run out the clock. This allowed the Suns to tie the game with a Jason Richardson three pointer. On the inbound pass to Bryant, he quickly turned and fired strongly contested three pointer. It didn't touch the rim, but Ron Artest grabbed the offensive rebound and shot a lay-up to win the game at the buzzer.
Now the series heads back to Phoenix where anything could happen. The Suns have played their best basketball at home this postseason, and I don't see anything changing for Game Six. I think that if the Lakers are looking to end this series in six games, they must take the Suns fans out of the game early. Squash any hope of winning the game and take every last ounce of life out of the Suns. However, this will be difficult to do, and my gut tells me that this series will need the full seven games to be completed.
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