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    COLUMN: After Lakers win, we can't help but feel bad for the Suns

    Suns worked their tails off to finish the season with a 51-21 record and earn a playoffs spot for the first time since 2010. And then they get rewarded with a first-round draw against the defending champs with LeBron and A.D. looking like Rambo and The Terminator.
    May 20, 2021
    spin zone

    CHICAGO - This was not the ideal script if the desired ending is to write a back-to-back championship story.

    Adding a play-in tournament game in lieu of an outright path to the postseason was messy, dangerous. But what seemed like clutter turned out to be purple-and-gold glitter.

    The hero LeBron James, supposedly concussed while repeatedly saying he "can't see," somehow makes a 34-foot three in the final 58.3 seconds to rescue his team from the wrath of 15 angry Warriors.

    And so for now, it's a wrap.

    The Lakers, wounded and left for dead, burst into the playoffs scene as a No.7 seed in the Western Conference.

    And they did so with excitement and drama, in front of 6,000 fans, the largest congregation of humans inside the Staples Center since the advent of the pandemic.

    It was like watching a John Wick movie with a watered down PG-type of violence. The pace was torrid, the action relentless. And thanks to LeBron, some bad acting made a cameo when he got hit slightly in the face and crumpled as though he just got shot.

    No word yet on how the acting is on Space Jam 2 but LeBron's comedic reaction on Draymond Green's love tap with 2:07 to go in the fourth quarter merits a barrel of Rotten Tomatoes.

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    LeBron, an Akron, Ohio native, must have some Greek in him. Too much drama. He won't be in the thespian Hall-of-Fame but as Kuya Germs used to say: "That's Entertainment."

    Bad acting aside, LeBron, a career 34.5 percent shooter from downtown, deserves a ton of credit for making that dagger 3. He was 1-for-3 from the arc leading into that shot but he took it anyway, without fear nor mental reservation.

    The King has more balls than Spalding and may God help those No.2-seeded Phoenix Suns.

    Anthony Davis looked healthy while collecting 25 points and 12 rebounds in 42 minutes.

    If you're not sure yet if LeBron has fully recovered from a high ankle sprain, how about this for a clue. He carded a triple double - 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists - and logged 37 minutes.

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      AND HE WAS BACK TO HIS OLD SELF, TOO, JAWING WITH THE REFEREES AND WEEPING INJUSTICE.

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      Andre Drummond was chased out of the arena by a fast-paced, position-less Warriors offense that made him look like he was sinking in a quicksand.

      Dennis Schroder shot the ball as if he needed cataract surgery, 1-6 from 3 and 3-for-14 overall.

      The bench was mostly unresponsive and Alex Caruso had to provide CPR and pumped in 14 points including a pair of 3s.

      It wasn't a perfect night. It never is in Hollywood, a town known for devious twists and turns.

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      But the Lakers got the results they wanted. A much-needed win, a few days off and a prefered destination.

      I kind of feel bad for the Suns.

      They worked their tails off to finish the season with a 51-21 record and earn a playoffs spot for the first time since 2010.

      And then they get rewarded with a first-round draw against the defending champs with LeBron and A.D. looking like Rambo and The Terminator.

      It's "not over till it's over" but Phoenix would need the intensity and firepower of a million Suns to eclipse Los Angeles.

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      As for the Warriors and Steph Curry, whose 37 points fell for naught, they're gonna be in for a fight against those nasty boys from Memphis.

      Led by slippery acrobat Ja Morant, bull-strong Jonas Valanciunas and a fiery Dillon Brooks, the Grizzlies will be tough to tame.

      Those who still talk trash about the play-in tournament format, please stand up.

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