Sunday, May 9, 2010

beer worthy - the suns beating the spurs

it finally happened. the phoenix suns finally beat the san antonio spurs in the playoffs. as a long-time suns fan, this feels almost as good as if the suns were to win the chip. just think back to all the bad luck the suns have had, joe johnson's broken face, nash's broken nose, 'cheap shot' bob hip-checking nash into the stands, and tim duncan's only three of the season, and its easy to see why this feels so satisfying.

as i write this, perhaps prematurely, george hill just hit a three while being fouled by amar'e. uh oh.

it seemed like tonight was going to play host to another catastrophic episode of bad luck, as a (likely recently sharpened) tim duncan elbow decided to install a nice gash just above steve nash's right eye. however, the ubiquitous 'one-eye' jokes found on twitter soon after made it all worth the nightmare flashbacks.

this series was won by a new brand of phoenix suns basketball. sure, they still try to run you out of the gym, but this gentry-led team, unlike the d'antoni suns, actually play defense, too. even nash and stoudamire seem like defensive juggernaughts this season compared to previous ones.

not only did the suns finally beat the spurs, but they swept them. i don't know if anybody saw this coming, especially not after the spurs beat a talented dallas mavericks team in the opening round. it seems that the suns 'out spurred' the spurs, using defense and hustle to win games when shots weren't falling.

steve nash was phenomenal. anybody who denies his status as an all-time point guard doesn't know basketball. he has the peripheral vision of a chameleon (ahem), finding teammates all over the floor. i can't stress enough how great those left-handed bounce passes right into the shooter's wheelhouse are.

its not over yet, though. the suns are probably going to end up playing the lakers in the conference finals, and everybody knows what the lakers can do. but maybe, just maybe, the suns' depth and size up front will be enough to get it done. having robin lopez back would be nice, too.

thankfully, i'm not restricted by any sort of journalistic morals as this blog is merely a platform for basketball-related opinions. with that being said, beat la.

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