Lakers executes threat within West, rivalry between Suns, a zilch

For now, the Los Angeles Lakers are the most dominated team in the West. A reunion was held in the desert on Thursday night, which turned into uproar for the Phoenix Suns.

In the West, no team is a threat to the Lakers, except themselves. Utah is bothered by injuries, Portland is still searching for their coherence, New Orleans hasn’t being efficient, San Antonio, well they’re old, Houston isn’t playing as well as we thought they were after adding defensive specialist Ron Artest, Dallas and Denver, well they don’t play any defense.

Nonetheless, the Lakers are favors to repeat in the West, where they might have a chance to redeem themselves after they were crushed by Boston in the finals last season.

For the first time this season, the Lakers and Suns clashed before the Lakers smashed and sailed to a 105-92 victory, improving their record to 8-0 against West teams with a win at Dallas and at New Orleans.

Perhaps there’s only one team or even two teams that can beat the Lakers, both of them being East teams, failing to find a rational answer for Allen Iverson and Detroit last week. Yes, the Pistons can beat the Lakers.

But, we’re still uncertain on if the Lakers can beat Boston, tune in on Christmas Day to find out.

For now, we know the Suns aren’t a threat to the Lakers, certainly they probably didn’t really notice that Shaq was in the middle.

It was a reunion to where Shaq and Phil Jackson forgave, giving each other sweat bear hugs two hours before game time. Still, the rivalry isn’t the same when ever you see Shaq hug Jackson or Kobe giving hand slaps to Shaq.

Lakers-Suns rivalry is a zilch, without Mike D’Antoni’s fast-pace system and Jackson shouting from the sidelines at D’Antoni, there’s no rivalry.

The Suns are a step slower on offense as their fast-running offense took a hitchhike to New York, but the Lakers made the Suns look disintegrated, holding them below nine points of their season average, a team known to reach the 100 point plateau.

On greater imports, for the Lakers, Vladimir Radmanovic had a surprise party, scoring 15 points after burying all five three-point attempts. Sometimes, it takes one game to break out of a slump maybe having a big game, might have ended his early season letdowns.

Entering the game averaging 6.1 points and shooting 34 percent, an absurd performance that led to questions, such as possibly trading the forward elsewhere or accompanying Lamar Odom in his place, but Radmanovic don’t want to surrender his starting job, his performance from behind the arch made a difference.

But their star, Kobe Bryant never found his touch, missing 15-of-23 shots, still managing to score 24 points, winning the match over Shaq, who scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, in what wasn’t a rivalry, just West Coast domination.

Usually, a tight game down the strength, turned into a compelling blowout against the Suns, a team that isn’t nearly the same without a fast-pace game plan, the Lakers pulled away from a 50-44 halftime advantage for an 80-67 advantage and never gazed back.

Without a fast-running game, Steve Nash isn’t the same, had trouble finding rhythm with the Lakers holding him scoreless until a layup midway in the third quarter. He finished with just eight points and like always 10 assist.

With aging Shaq in their lineup, hurts their ability to install a fast-running game and Coach Terry Porter doesn’t emphasize a full-court offense, seemingly more comfortable running a half-court offense.

There has been speculations that Shaq would like to return to the Lakers when he becomes a free-agent in 2010, but the Lakers look as if they’re moving on with their young talent, such as Andrew Bynum, the Lakers believe in him after giving him a four-year, $58 million contract extension.

Bynum certainly is the new big-man, many believe Shaq is washed up, from watching the Suns play the Lakers provided a hint, his days with the Lakers are bygone.

The Lakers proved they’re the best of the West, but they still have to prove they can overpower the East.

However, Shaq, Jackson and Kobe all seem to have absolved their issues, and the Suns aren’t a threat to the Lakers, which means there’s no rivalry in the West, but there’s a dominate Lakers team, seeking to win a championship.

Still, the Suns have a lot of work to complete, while the Lakers have a little work to complete. That’s winning a championship with their legitimate squad.

Now, the sun no longer shines in the desert. But now, the stars gleams in Los Angeles.