Last night Amare Stoudemire made sure the Suns wouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as the Magic in the 2010 NBA Playoffs.
Stoudemire went for 42 points to get the Suns right back in the thick of the Western Conference Finals.
Lately scoring hasn't been the problem for Stoudemire. Oddly enough it's been the lack of rebounding. Last night he grabbed 11 which was two more than his rebounds total in the first two games combined.
The Suns don't have a lot of size outside of Stoudemire and Robin Lopez so it is extremely important that Stoudemire continues to be dominant on the boards like in Game 3. It was only his third double-digit rebound game in this year's playoffs.
Now it's obviously no time to panic for the Lakers. They're still in great shape to wrap this thing up quickly and prepare for the Celtics who at the moment look better than the 08' championship team.
Pretty much all of us outside of the state of Arizona want a Lakers-Celtics series in the NBA Finals. It is easily the most recognized rivalry in the NBA and so far the 2010 NBA Playoffs have not been very exciting. In fact, the NHL has shown them up a little bit. That would all change with a Lakers-Celtics series.
To go back to the Western Conference Finals, don't count the Suns out of this at all. This team is resilient and has a ton of great pieces in place for this team to go down swinging. I can promise you that guys like Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, and Grant Hill aren't going to let the Suns be embarrassed like the Magic have been.
Oh yeah, and if Stoudemire somehow figures out a way to follow up that career performance with another one than this thing will be tied up going back to L.A.
The talent and sheer size of the Lakers will ultimately win this series, even if it takes seven games, but crazier things have happened in sports. For the sake of the bottom line, the NBA is hoping that all goes according to plan and the Lakers make yet another trip to the NBA Finals.
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