Suns Limping to Playoffs
The Phoenix Suns are still playing better basketball than 90% of the league, but at this time of the season it's causing nightmares for many basketball fans. Having lost recently to both the Kings and the Spurs, while winning against the Nuggets and Mavericks, it's hard to tell which Suns team will show up for each game.
Each game is an unknown - will the Suns play hard and run throughout the game, OR will they play so-so and try to make a late run to win? While playing hard against the league leading Mavs and winning the last two games of their season series, the Suns threw up a goose egg against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
The loss to the Spurs only added to NBA analysts' arguments (including Charley Rosen) that the Suns are ill equipped to make it to the NBA Finals. Sure, the Spurs played a good game and withstood a late run by the Suns, but one game doesn't make a season, or predict a team's playoff success.
Don't forget, the Suns did defeat the Mavericks twice within the past month. Despite the resurgence of the Spurs, most experts still think the Mavs or Suns will emerge from the Western Conference and win the NBA Championship.
Based on the Suns performance against the Spurs in the 2004 playoffs, I don't think they're really too worried about playing them in the 2nd round. With a healthy Amare Stoudemire, the Suns should be able to handle the Spurs in 6 games or less. The Suns focus and effort has been aimed at overtaking the Mavs - the team they lost to last year in the Western Conference Finals. Having one the last two games, Phoenix has made a clear statement that they're not the same team that the Mavs narrowly defeated last year.
Other NBA News:
- Vince Carter and Jason Kidd both had a triple-double in Saturday night's win over the Washington Wizards. This marks the first time that two teammates have achieved the feat in the same game since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did it almost 20 years ago (1989). Kidd narrowly missed hitting his triple-double, needing a late free throw to reach 10 points, to go along w/ his 16 rbs and 18 asts.
- The Minnesota Timberwolves virtually eliminated themselves from playoff contention with a loss to the New Orleans Hornets Saturday night. A win by the Clippers should make it official later this evening. Only one thing to say about the Timberwolves this season... what a shame.
- The Washington Wizards figure to make a quick exit in the playoffs, despite having the sixth seed. Two superstars were lost for the season in the last week: Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.