the x factor

here's what the suns must do to beat the lakers:

• m-v-steve must have an assist/TO ratio of 3:1 (for god sakes, stop jump passing all the time) and hit some of those transition 3's he loves to take. he also needs to have the shoot-first mentality if the lakers are on a run or the rest of the suns are cold (like his 33 point outburst against the spurs). if nash's line is 18-10 and amare's is 20-10, the suns are pretty much unbeatable.
  
• lopez has to at least cancel out bynum/gasol either in points or rebounds when he's on the floor. the suns' uptempo gameplay isn't what the doctor ordered for bynum's knee, which is why he didn't do much. lopez has to out hustle him. if he's matched up with gasol, he needs to ignore what he learned in those anger management classes and rough him up when on the defensive end.
  
• amundson needs to keep boxing out and play gritty defense. he's the team's garbage man.
  
• grant hill needs to stay out of foul trouble. the suns' oldest player is also their best 1-on-1 defender and one of the better decision makers. he needs to stay on the floor to make kobe work for his shots. kobe will get his points, but he shouldn't be allowed to score 40 points off 23 attempts. this is the nba, not nba live.
  
• chan-chan needs to hit some 3's. that's his only friggin' job!
  
• dudley needs to do the things amare doesn't: scrap for loose balls, rebound, hit 3's, and get back on transition defense.
  
• j-rich has to be more offensive minded. when he thrives, the suns thrive. he only took 12 shots in game 1. definitely not enough for the only swingman on the team. defensively, he has to force artest into making bad decisions (i.e. shooting the ball)
• amare needs to make that 18-20 footer consistently. odom and fisher are great at guarding the pick-and-roll, so stat needs to step up. also, playing some lockdown, physical defense and getting more than 3 rebounds (nash had 4) may help the suns win, but hey, that's just my opinion. saying that odom's 19-19 game was luck just makes you look pathetic. you're a 6'10" power forward, not a 6'10" small forward.
• whoever's guarding gasol, do not go for the pump fakes. he's spanish, not a magician. force him to make a jump shot. if he brings it in, he'll draw a foul.
  
• barbosa needs to keep fisher/brown or whoever's guarding him on their heels. make good decisions, penetrate, dish, bury open shots. run run run.
  
• collins and clark need to keep that bench on the ground.
• the x-factor is goran. he needs to play with confidence and lead the second unit. he's better than both farmar and brown when he's poised. gentry needs to keeping reminding him to be aggressive. it doesn't matter if he turns the ball over or bricks an open shot, he needs to know that his next pass will be an assist and his next shot will be a swish. he did a good job in game one but he can't do it alone. dudley and frye need to have more than 8 points to be able to spread the floor, keep the lakers d honest, and rest the canadian

bottom line: our bench needs to convincingly out produce theirs, frye needs to make a shot once in a while, amare needs to stop being a pussy, and goran needs to continue to be nash, jr.