MVP…MVP…MVP…The Suns won a 121-90 laugher over the gutless Lakers last night as the Suns became the eighth team in NBA history to win a series after trailing 3-1. Leandro Barbosa leading the way as he torched the Kobe Bryant show for a career playoff-best 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting…Raja Bell returned from his one-game suspension for throwing Bryant to the floor in Game 5 to scored 13 points and draw three offensive fouls against Bryant including one ona the 6th elbow Bryant has connected on with a Suns player’s face…Shawn Marion had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Phoenix and Nash had 13 points and 9 assists, although a sprained right ankle late in the first half limited his effectiveness…Boris Diaw shot 8-of-14 from the field, scoring 21 points and added 6 rebounds and 9 assists with 0 turnovers in 38 minutes regardless of the fact he handles the ball on almost every possession as a facilitator for the offence…

Milk Carton: Smush Parker…who was 7-for-37 shooting the last three games….

What was more upsetting than his second-half performance was watching Bryant walk off the court after the game instead of congratulating the Suns players and coaches as most of his teammates did.

The Suns' easy ride in Game 7 proved several things:

Phoenix had better chemistry, better speed and betterleadership.

Kwamwe Brown cannot guard Boris Diaw, whereas, Boris Diaw can guard Kwame Brown.

Smush Parker's confidence is gone. Steve Nash absolutely killed him.

Luke Walton can pass, but cannot finish.

Kobe mailed it in in the 2nd half of Game 7.

Elias says: The Suns' Game 7 victory over the Lakers on Saturday made it a clean sweep for the eight NBA teams that held home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It's the third time in the past five years that all eight teams with home-court advantage moved on to the conference semifinals.

So to preview the Clippers and Suns series: The teams spli their season series 2-2

Suns Clips
Pts. per game 108.4 97.2
Pts. against per game 102.8 95.6
FG % 47.9% 46.5%
3-pt % 39.9% 34.4%
Rebs. per game 41.8 43.1
Asts. per game 26.6 20.8
FT % 80.6% 79.1%

Trade Rumour: Portland sends PF Zach Randolph to Denver for PF Kenyon Martin.

Rumored potential candidates to replace recently deposed Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe include: Tommy Sheppard, Washington's director of basketball operations; San Antonio assistant GM Sam Presti; Detroit vice president for basketball operations John Hammond; Utah assistant coach Scott Layden; and Mark Warkentien, the Nuggets' director of player personnel.

1) Ethan J. Skolnick of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the Shaq is already setting up the refs:

O'Neal ready for flop factor - Staying out of foul trouble key for center

Shaquille O'Neal is a man of nearly as many languages as interests. When discussing New Jersey forward Jason Collins after Saturday's practice, the Heat center spoke Greek. "They're all the same," O'Neal said of opposing interior defenders, from former NBA center Vlade Divac through Collins. "They all have their flop fraternity. A flopternity is what I call them." Flop flop flop? "Flop flop flop," he said. "I just have to mix it up and stay out of foul trouble, and I will. I'm going to enjoy mixing it up." Alonzo Mourning briefly shared a frontcourt with Collins as a Net in 2003 and 2004. "What frustrates me is not the player, it's the way the league has called games," Mourning said. "I was a part of this game when flopping wasn't a factor. Now they're making flopping a factor and the league is helping those guys." Mourning said that, since officials fall prey to the David and Goliath syndrome and "feel sorry" for the weaker player, the stronger one must make the adjustment. "I think you're going to have to get deeper spots on the court," Mourning said. "Because the less dribbles you have to take to get to that rim, the better off. As soon as you catch, I can just go straight up with it. I think that puts the defense at more of a disadvantage and forces the referees to make the calls in your favor, as opposed to when you have to dribble and back down and back down." LINEUP UNCERTAIN - Pat Riley told the media, and said he told the players, that he has yet to decide on Monday's starting forwards.
Udonis Haslem and Antoine Walker started the Nov. 7 win against New Jersey, when James Posey was sidelined. Haslem and Posey started the Dec. 23 loss. Posey and Wayne Simien started the Feb. 4 loss, with Haslem inactive. Haslem and Derek Anderson started the April 2 loss, with Posey injured but Walker available. Haslem started 80 of his 81 games. But what about starting Posey and Walker together? "I haven't really thought about that, but that's a possibility," Riley said. CARTER MAJOR CONCERN - The Heat spent most of practice working on defense. Of particular concern: how to control Vince Carter. Carter shot just 36.5 percent in the Heat's four-game sweep last postseason. He shot 55.7 percent in the four-game 2005-06 season series, averaging 38.5 points. "He's dominated us," Riley said. Still, Riley expressed a reluctance to resorting to gimmicks: "You definitely have got to do some things, but you don't need to create a whole new defense to do it." INJURY UPDATE - Riley declared Mourning "back all the way health-wise." Mourning said his right calf felt "a whole lot better than a week ago," and that he was glad that he had followed medical advice to return, in order to get the strength back. "I didn't feel comfortable at all coming back," said Mourning, who missed five weeks after partially tearing the calf muscle March 22. "I actually wanted to sit out a little more." Dwyane Wade said his bruised left hip was still "a little sore, but hopefully by Monday, it feels a little better."

2) SI.com with the 10 greatest Playoff upsets in NBA History:

No. 10 Rockets defeat Magic 1995 (NBA Finals) This was a battle of the big men: Orlando's young stud, Shaquille O'Neal, against Houston's Hall of Fame-to-be center, Hakeem Olajuwon. Orlando, with a 57-25 regular-season record, was the No. 1 seed in the East while Houston carried a more pedestrian 47-35 record and was seeded No. 6. But Kenny Smith, Robert Horry, Sam Cassell and Clyde Drexler, who was acquired midseason, were too much for the young Magic to handle as the Rockets took their second championship of the "Michael Jordan in professional baseball" era.

No. 9 Knicks defeat Heat 1999 (first round) This series will forever be remembered for 5-foot-9, 150-pound Jeff Van Gundy's clinging helplessly to the leg of Alonzo Mourning as the Knicks coach tried to prevent a fight, but it's also one of only two series in which a No. 8 defeated a No. 1 (though the regular season was shortened to 50 games that season because of a league-imposed lockout). The Knicks won three games in Miami, capped by a memorable Game 5 in which Allan Houston put up a runner in the lane that bounced off the backboard and the rim before falling in with 0.8 of a second left to give the Knicks a 78-77 win.

No. 8 Rockets defeat Lakers 1981 (first round) Though this first-round series was only a best-of-three affair, nobody gave the Rockets much of a chance to defeat the defending champion Lakers, who finished the season with 14 more wins than Houston. But Moses Malone, Calvin Murphy and Rudy Tomjanovich were able to contain Kareem Abdul Jabbar and second-year star Magic Johnson as the Rockets won the deciding Game 3, 89-86, to take the series. Houston continued its surprise run all the way to the NBA Finals but were eventually defeated by Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.

No. 7 Kansas City Kings defeat Suns 1981 (Western Conference semifinals) Otis Birdsong and the fourth-seeded Kings were not expected to be much of a match for Truck Robinson, Dennis Johnson and the rest of the top-seeded Suns, but after four games, the Kings had a 3-1 lead. The Suns fought back to tie it at six, but the Kings battled hard in Game 7, pulling out a 95-88 win to advance to the conference finals, where they were ousted in five games by Houston.

No. 6 Bulls defeat Knicks 1989 (Eastern Conference semifinals) After Michael Jordan hit his famous foul-line jumper (complete with fist-pump celebration) to lead the sixth-seeded Bulls past Cleveland, the Bulls were rewarded with a second-round series against John Starks, Patrick Ewing and the rest of the second-seeded Knicks. The Bulls jumped to a quick 3-1 series lead and came back from a loss in Game 5 to win the series in six. They lost to the Bad Boys of Detroit in the conference finals.

No. 5 Suns defeat Lakers 1990 (Western Conference semifinals) The pre-Charles Barkley Suns, led by Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson, weren't supposed to be much of a challenge for the top-seeded Lakers. But after splitting the first two games, the Suns took three straight to win the series. Despite winning his third straight MVP, Magic Johnson couldn't do much to help his squad pull out the victory. The Suns, who featured six players with double-digit scoring averages during the regular season, advanced to the conference finals, where they were promptly dismissed by Portland.

No. 4 Suns defeat Warriors 1976 (Western Conference semifinals) Before Garfield Heard's miraculous rainbow shot at the buzzer forced triple overtime against the Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, the Suns (42-40 during the regular season) had to match up against Golden State (59-23). After a hard-fought six games, the Suns traveled to San Francisco and defeated the Warriors 94-86 in Game 7. Paul Westphal and Alvan Adams led the way for the Suns, marking the second-greatest upset (based on win differential) in NBA history.

No. 3 Pistons defeat Lakers 2003 (NBA Finals) Veterans Gary Payton and Karl Malone moved to Los Angeles to help the team try to win its fourth championship of the Shaq-Kobe era. The series was billed as David (the underdog Pistons) vs. Goliath (the supremely talented Lakers), but after splitting the first two games, Detroit won three straight by an average of 14 points to win the title. Leading the way for the Pistons was guard Chauncey Billups, who averaged 21 points and five assists on his way to winning Finals MVP.

No. 2 Sonics defeat Mavs 1987 (first round) Despite a losing regular-season record (39-43), the seventh-seeded Sonics knocked off the No. 2 Mavs (55-27) three games to one, including an incredible 151-point performance in Game 1. The Sonics were led by Xavier McDaniel and Tom Chambers while the Mavs struggled to make up for the lackluster play of Mark Aguirre, who was suffering from strep throat. The Sonics made it past Houston in the semifinals before being swept by the eventual champion Lakers.

No. 1 Nuggets defeat Seattle 1994 (first round) Though they barely finished over .500 (42-40), the Nuggets, led by Dikembe Mutombo, defeated top-seeded Seattle in overtime of Game 5 to win the series. It was the first time in history that an eight seed had defeated a one. Seattle, led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, was plagued by Mutombo, whose 31 blocks set a record for a five-game series.