Throughout the 2021-22 season — in which the Phoenix Suns posted the best record in the NBA through eight games, won a franchise-high 64 and led the league to a point differential — I was asked how I felt about the team, for good but Mostly for the worse, my favorite in sports. It’s a team I’ve been following since the days of All-Star Jeff Hornasek (remembering my first sun at a Village in Diner in Phoenix when he did business, which shows you that I was literally a kid because they got Charles Berkeley back on contract), almost For a glorious seven seconds or less, from the 2010s to the present day.
I know everyone understands me well when asked about the sun. How can you not check with a friend on a team that has just reached the NBA Finals and looks better at this point? And yet, whenever I hear the question, without fail, I give the same answer: A..
Now it is Oops It wasn’t small for “Oops! Let’s go to the playoffs before then! I’m so excited!” The Oops Not to mention because the uninvited Phoenix Housing Market is offering me a price from a sweet vacation condo a few steps from San Arena, where I could see the inevitable championship parade from my balcony. This has something to do with ESPN’s extensive report on Robert Server being called a “toxic and sometimes hostile workplace,” but in addition to this widely disliked owner, Oops Could have stayed Its real meaning Oops Was fatalistic. Oh, I know how this ends.
It ends in something like what you saw on Sunday night. As you well know, the Suns turned 2-0 into a second-round lead against the inferior Dallas Mavericks (a team that lost 11 times in a row to Phoenix), the most tragic playoff finish you will ever see. Admittedly, I didn’t think the sun season would end that way; I predicted that a COVID-19 outbreak would derail them. Still, I knew that no matter what they played or what happened, it would end without a championship. The NBA media and fan ecosystem, with its virtually non-existent collective memory, will certainly consider this failure as an isolated incident, whether it be about the deception of Chris Paul or Luka Donsick or each individual Sans player. But this is not a single or some historical inconsistency.
The sun now exists for 54 seasons. Their title is zero. They have the most wins in NBA history among ringless franchises. The most final trip, too. They’ve been legit competitors in four different eras, “although it was a fun team!” Platitudes to show it. By my measure, only two other “major leagues” franchises can compare in terms of consistent, sustainable success without mountain peaks: the Buffalo Sabers and the Minnesota Vikings.
With every defeat comes a moral victory it can be a bit easier to stomach. But Sans’s history is full of bad breaks and suffocating jobs that range from annoying to irrational. The Sons is truly one of the most snake-biting franchises in professional sports, finding ways to lose, get frustrated and upset at the impossible. If Phoenix had been a more famous city, someone would have discovered a curse. But we don’t find anything interesting. Instead, Sans fans are stuck in a time loop where all we can say at the end of each season is: “It sucks. Guess we’ll do it again next year. “
Below I give you, as they say in the world of writing, an orthodoxy of proof:
- The No. 1 pick was once decided by a coin toss – as has recently been done dramatically Time to win – And in 1969, Karim Abdul-Jabbar came down to Flip Milwaukee Box and Phoenix Sans. Box won and swept the NBA Finals a season later. What did you lose the most in a coin toss? Not as much as my team!
- In Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals, Boston Gardens, Series 2-2, and Game 6 in Phoenix, Celtics’ Paul Silas tied the score at 101 and attempted a timeout with three seconds left. First overtime. The Celtics had no deadline; It was Chris Weber’s moment before Chris Weber’s moment. And yet that referee “didn’t see him.” The game eventually went into three overtime. Guess who won it, and the series.
- In the 6th game of the 1979 Western Conference Final vs. Seattle Supersonics, the Suns were 3-2 up in the series and eight points ahead in the fourth quarter at home. Even then they went ahead at the last minute. They could not lead until the end of the game. The Sonics have won five finals.
- In the 6th game of the 1993 NBA Finals (the formative moment of my sports phantom), the No. 1 overall seed was 3-2 behind the San Chicago Bulls but the last two games in Phoenix, Sun led four in the last minute. With 15 seconds left, they both lead. Then they said to each other, “Hey, let’s go No. Guard three-point expert John Paxon. Sun lost, and I was prime for a lifetime of sports misery.
- In 1994, Michael Jordan retired and out of the No. 1 pick in the first round, the Sons led 2-0. On the way Against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. They blew it up. The Rockets won the title. At least Arizona Republic For that series we were greeted with a “Hammer Houston” sign, which I still have (one must cherish the fondest memories of the one who provided the true wealth of life).
- In 1995, after Michael Jordan retired with a rust, the Sons led 3-1 against the Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. They blew it up too. Rocket won the title again. (I vividly remember telling my dad to record Game 7 on a VHS tape because I, young and innocent, thought they would win and I wanted a copy of it for history. Anyway, I’m sure we taped it.)
- In 2005, with the revived Sun having the best record in the NBA, Star Guard Joe Johnson literally broke his face in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. They still beat the Mavs, but there was no match for the San Antonio Spurs in the next round.
- Prior to the 2005-06 season, Amar’e Stoudemire underwent microfracture surgery on his knee. He missed all but three games of the year, which happened to be — thanks to zero expectations and a ridiculous 3-1 series return vs. The Lakers — my absolute favorite sun season.
- In 2007, Studemayer was healthy, with a 67-win Maverick out in the first round, the irresistible Utah Jazz awaiting the final of the conference, and not yet ready. The Sons tied the series at two, with Spurs vs. a road win in Game 4. Robert Horry then body-checked Steve Nash at the scorer’s table. In the next split-second, Stodmeyer and favorite wine connoisseur Boris Diau, who was already standing by their bench, ran towards Nash but didn’t get close to any Spurs. Studemayer and Diau have been suspended. Many years later, I’m still annoyed by this pedantic, “red-letter rule” nonsense. I can’t remember where I was when I saw this happen because, when I try to access that part of my memory bank, all I can see and feel is white hot rage.
- Admittedly, 2010 isn’t really going to be their year – after missing the playoffs in 2009, the Sun was more isolated than the superpowers. And yet, they were there, with the Western Conference Final vs. Los Angeles Lakers, a 2-2 tie in the series, with 3.5 seconds left in Game 101. The Lakers were in possession, and the Suns played it perfectly: they forced Kobe Bryant into a terrific hero shot, and he badly aired it… right to Ron Artist, who scored immediately. It was originally for the series.
- Nearly 50 years after the Karim Coin flipped, Sans took the overall No. 1 spot for the first time. And in the year of Luka Donsik, yes! Apart from their fate, the draft also included a big man in their owner’s alma mater. And since Sons missed Karim so many years ago — I didn’t underestimate you ে in the history of this group “there has never been an influential big man” was actually a major topic of discussion moving forward with the draft – -Who-is-not-being-stupid choice. Donsick, of course, just defeated Sun. Ayton, well, Let’s see A. How’s that going. (Side note: Read this article titled “Anonymous Assessor Reveals His Luca Donsick Scouting Report” from a Phoenix Media outlet published before the draft. This is a true masterpiece.)
- In the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Suns have taken a break — in fact, if you listen to NBA Twitter, the injuries of Anthony Davis, Jamal Murray and Cauvery Leonard mean that Phoenix could be the luckiest team in the history of anything really competitive. And yet… these events only offset the fact that Chris Paul kept a stinger and could hardly use his right hand early in the Lakers series, then COVID-19 became one of the very few players in the post-season to miss games, then his backup Cameron Payne was seen rolling his ankles. After that, once Sun reached the finals, it got worse. In a Game 1 win, Dario Sarik তাদের their only reliable backup big against a Milwaukee Box team that many needed-tore his ACL. Devin Booker injured his hamstring in Game 3 but kept it quiet. And Chris Paul, who did well in this Dallas series, suffered a wrist injury shortly after the playoffs, probably in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final when Patrick Beverly tended to do what he did, but kept quiet, too, and surgery immediately after the season. Done. So yes, Sun is lucky. Until they become the sun again.
I actually forgot all this history last year. After Game 2 — for which I drove from Los Angeles to Phoenix, stood in the 110-degree heat with thousands of fans, and watched the victory through the windows of the arena’s in-house TV — I vividly remember walking down Philmore Ave. And you think … maybe … the Phoenix Suns … can really … win? It was a surreal feeling, this emotion, do I believe it to be joy?
Then the accident happened. Game 3 was a blueprint loss, almost as embarrassing as Sunday’s Game 7. To my credit, I recognized it right there. The trance is broken, the reality is restored. I immediately told everyone who would listen, “Box in 6.” Damn if I’m not always the first person to be right about this team!
I never forgot that feeling. So I said Oops All year round. A. The Sun’s 18-game winning streak in October, November and December. A. Every time they dominated the Lakers (okay, I laughed a little when I saw them). That’s why I was absolutely amazed at the behavior of the otherwise intelligent Sans fans and analysts as if this season was different, saying that this one particular iteration was really good (and it was!) .
Well, I came here to say that to believe in the sun, again, is to cover oneself in the fog of denial. In fact, since it is a phoenix, we would call it a habub of denial. The thing about habubs, though, is that in the end the dust settles. Maybe when the dust is gone from here, everyone will finally see what is happening here. There’s a lot of history 54 54 long years like the basketball god অ Anton Chigur “to“ call it ”and Sans always make the mistake — to think that it will ever be different. I don’t know why this happens, it’s a supernatural, conspiratorial or weird lost mania that anyone who wears purple and orange catches. All I know is that the Phoenix Suns do this, whether they play for the team or the coach or the owner.