The Good Sun

-Keefe

First off I have to say that I’ve been completely swept up in the Nellie ball, “We Believe” Bay Area hysteria that has surrounded the playoff run by the Warriors. They might be the most exciting team to watch to right now. For the record, I am a Celtics fan, but also an NBA fan. So when I realized the Celts wouldn’t be making a playoff push, (this happened early in the season as you could imagine) I had to find another team(s) to follow to get me through the season. I still watched nearly every Celtics game all season long… long season long, but it was other players and teams that kept me loving NBA basketball. I guess this has happened more often than not in the past years cheering for Pierce and the C’s. Between Gilbert Arenas and the Phoenix Suns, I was able to find a reason to follow the year in the NBA. The Warriors are dominating much of the talk after their first round upset over the Mavs, but let’s not forget about the Suns.

Ever since Steve Nash rejoined the Suns in ’04-’05 I have made a point to watch their games. It’s hard not to love the way they play, pushing the pace, “7 seconds or less.” I don’t consider myself a bandwagon jumper, because first off they play in the West, and I think it’s ok to cheer for a team in both conferences, second: they’ve never won the title, not like I’m cheering for the Kobe/ Shaq’s Lakers or Jordan’s Bulls. Also if the Celtics ever played the Suns in the playoffs, (doesn’t even feel like a remote possibility for the near future) there wouldn’t be a question in my mind I’d be cheering hard for the Celtics.

It’s favorite players and style of play that attracts you to teams other than those in your hometown. I love watching Chad Johnson, Gilbert Arenas, and Ken Griffey Jr., but none of them have played for New England or Boston. But when you combine the style of play with great and likeable stars you have something special. The Suns have that with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amare Stoudemire. Even players like Barbosa and Raja Bell offer certain skills that make watching them a must.

So after the Suns and Warriors both emerged from the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the thought of them playing each other, in a 7 game series, made me as excited as Lattimer when he found out he’d be on the starting defense in The Program. The only things standing in the way of this dream match up are the Jazz and the Spurs. (Just think of all the showings of Barkley’s 56 point game against Mullin, Spree, and C-Webb from the ’94 playoffs leading up to this series). And let’s be honest here, after Game 1 of both series, it was a long shot for the two most exciting teams in the league to face each other in the Western Finals. But I have faith in both of them. The Warriors could have and probably should have beaten the Jazz in Game 1. It was a great and close game, that the Jazz eeked out. That wouldn’t have happened in Oakland, that’s for sure. Baron Davis (one of many, extremely likeable/ must watch players on Golden State, you got to put Stephen Jackson, Jason Richardson, and even Matt Barnes on this list) will bounce back, and if they take Game 2, which is on in less than an hour, I can’t see Utah winning a game in California.

It looks as though the Suns will have a much tougher time keeping up their end of the deal. They clearly don’t match up well against San Antonio. Duncan has looked unguardable so far (33-16 in Game 1, 29-11 in Game 2.) I mean… come on. But I certainly wouldn’t give the series to the Spurs just yet. Game 1 may have ended differently if Nash didn’t get cut open like a dead body on CSI, and Game 2 was an impressive 20 point home victory. A lot of writers have harped on the importance of Kurt Thomas for this series (12 pts, 4 rebs in Game 2), because he is the best candidate to guard Duncan. I understand that of course, but the obvious difference between the first two games wasn’t Duncan’s performance, (both were dominant), but from the Spurs’ second best player, Tony Parker. And maybe I’ve become a bit of a Shawn Marion apologist, I agree he doesn’t receive enough attention, and I think he’s a top 15 player in the league, but you can not argue with his impact guarding Parker in Game 2. In Game 1 Parker shot 14-22 from the field for 32 pts and dropped 8 assists. In Game 2, not always guarded by Marion, but shot just 5-14, was 3-6 at the line and had only 13 pts and 3 assists. Ginobili also has not been effective, thanks to Bell.

Bottom line is the league’s best offense will win this series because of their defense. Talk all you want about Kurt Thomas’s impact, but Duncan can get his stats and the Suns can still win. If Parker and Ginobili play like All-Stars, Phoenix is in a lot of trouble. Nash and Amare have been the only consistent threats on offense so far, Marion won’t have 5 points (like he did in Game 2) again this series, and I expect more from the 6th man of the year as well.

Ok the Warriors will be on shortly, trying to tie up the series with Utah. With each win by Golden State and Phoenix we are closer and closer to what could be the best NBA playoff match up in a long long time. A series that could make be forget that the most important future dates for my team are the Lottery (May 22) and the NBA Draft (June 28).

-Rich Keefe