Los Angeles Lakers Lose to Phoenix Suns' Three-Point Hot Streak

Sigh. This game also could have been ours, and we blew it, yet again.

So what went wrong this time? How about 2-of-3, 3-of-5, 4-of-9, 5-of-7, 7-of-10...If you weren't paying attention, those numbers would look like field goals made over shots attempted. Wrong. Those are three pointers made from downtown. 22 out of 40 to be more precise. That converts to 66 points by the Suns from behind the line. Sixty-six points. Ridiculous.

Tonight, the Suns exploited a very hot streak, and Jason Richardson led the team with 35 points and 7 of 10 from long range. Offensively, there's not much to critique. Lakers played relatively well, shooting a decent 49 percent to the Sun's 51.2 percent, except the Suns' outside shooting made all the difference.

Nash forced us to pack the paint with his inside dribble penetrations, while Frye, Richardson and Turkoglu took advantage of our absent-minded perimeter defense. Spread the floor! But this is pointless ranting, as nobody ever pays attention to me anyway.

Off the pick-and-roll, Pau can never seem to guard Nash, and ironically, it's Nash's favorite match-up when he plays against the Lakers. You'd think a big man would be ready to block the s--- out of 6'3" point guard, but even with 36 years behind his legs, Nash toys with Gasol like an episode of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. What can you do? It's just one of those nights.

But I'm concerned these kind of games are becoming more frequent. This is our back-to-back loss, coming off of a rough night against the Timberwolves; not to mention that this is the seventh game where we've given up over a 100 points. It's worrisome that even with Artest and Barnes, we still can't figure out where we are on a defensive standpoint.

Losing to the Suns is not a cause for alarm, because teams that live by the long ball usually die by the long ball, but the Suns exposed some serious holes in our perimeter defense, and that is an issue we can't simply brush off.

Back to the drawing board, Lakers.