Suns prep for Lakers to stay big; Could it be in a different way for Game 2?

The rebounding battle in the Suns’ series-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers went strongly in Phoenix’s favor, 47-33.

Wouldn’t you know it, the Suns remain on high-alert, worried that advantage could swing drastically in Game 2 and beyond.

“Cleaning up the glass a little bit more, limiting those guys to a lower number of second-chance points” was a focus for Phoenix the past two days, forward Jae Crowder said Tuesday after shootaround.

Keeping Los Angeles out of transition and shoring up gameplan details were also priorities, Crowder said.

But in terms of how schemes or rotations might change after the Suns’ 99-90 win on Sunday, it starts with expecting a different look from the Lakers bigs.

“We’ll eventually see all of those guys, but we’ll see how the series plays out,” Los Angeles head coach Frank Vogel told reporters on Monday.

I would expect you will see Marc Gasol play in Game 2 for the Lakers as they make adjustments. Smart player, can shoot and is a great passer.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) May 25, 2021

Numbers suggest that center Marc Gasol joining the starting lineup might be a positive move, even if the former NBA Defensive Player of the Year might be a relative liability on defense due to his immobility.

Anthony Davis with Marc Gasol this season (vs without him):

His TS% goes up 12.5%
His frequency of shots at the rim goes up
His frequency of long mid rangers goes down
His frequency of drawing fouls goes up

LA plays better basketball offensively with Marc Gasol on the court. https://t.co/qFmFYqreRY

— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) May 24, 2021

The Lakers played starting center Andre Drummond 17 minutes in Game 1, shying away from him after Phoenix center Deandre Ayton got going quickly to finish with 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting.

Not all of that was Drummond’s fault — the aggressive blitzing and trapping of Devin Booker and Chris Paul didn’t help him, nor did it make things hard on Phoenix.

While Los Angeles went more heavily toward the more athletic Montrezl Harrell as the backup center, Vogel still used a smaller lineup with Anthony Davis at center.

From the visiting team’s perspective, finding the right mix of bigs has remained a work-in-progress for the last few weeks.

Phoenix will have to battle some combination of Drummond, Gasol, Harrell or Davis.

The numbers suggest, however, that the Lakers should go away from Drummond-Davis starting lineups, which relegates Davis to playing as a spot-up shooter — one who hit 21% of his threes in 13 regular season games after the All-Star break.

Davis most recently combined to shoot 1-for-9 in the play-in game against the Golden State Warriors, plus Game 1 against the Suns.

With Andre Drummond on the floor, Anthony Davis turns into a worse-shooting Danilo Gallinari:

Per 36 Minutes This Season

AD with Drummond on-court
19.7 pts, 7.5 reb, 5.8 FTA .387/.179/.780

Danilo Gallinari
19.9 pts, 6.2 reb, 5.1 FTA .434/.406/.925

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 24, 2021

In the Suns’ minds, which of those Lakers big men play doesn’t change much.

Ayton and the undersized Dario Saric will need to combat them. The Suns will need support from wings like Crowder, Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges.

“Just continue to keep in your head that it is a challenge for us, obviously with rebounding with those guys playing big,” Crowder said of the focus moving into Game 2. “It’s man-up, step up to the plate. It’s nothin’ else to it. It’s very clear-cut.”

And 1

Crowder commented on what he’s seen from Chris Paul over the past two days since the point guard reportedly suffered a stinger in Game 1: “He’s definitely been on his A-game with getting his treatment and taking care of his body, trying to get his body in the best possible shape it can be going into Game 2.

“He’s our leader, he’s a guy we need on the court, not even more shot-making or abilities on the offensive end but just his leadership is crucial for our unit, for our team. Having him on the court, having him do his leadership thing and bring guys together, it’s very crucial for us. … Obviously he’s fighting some injuries right now. We got to protect him. We got to pick up the slack, collectively.”

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