Day 11 – It’s time to go, Dallas and Phoenix

April 30th, 2008, Author: robd

PLAYOFF DIARY: DAY 11
Are the Phoenix Suns the best team to ever be knocked out in a first round playoff series? I’m not sure. But I know that two weeks ago I was one of the many people claiming they were perfectly suited to face the Spurs in the playoffs and a real chance to make it out of the West. Yeah they only finished 6th and were overshadowed by the Lakers and Hornets over the final days of the season, but we knew they had another gear come playoff time, right? I mean, this is two-time MVP Stevie Nash! This is Shaquille “I save my best till last” O’Neal. This is MVP candidate Amare playing like an absolute man possessed for the last two months. We said it on the podcast – no way this series doesn’t go to seven. But it didn’t even get to six. I could say a lot about how bummed out I am that the Suns didn’t win this series (surprise, I’m no Spurs fan), or how we were robbed of a potentially classic encounter that should have lasted another game or two. But I think my mood is summed up, and more, with the following email conversation I had with Chucko just minutes after the final buzzer sounded on the Suns 2008 season [censored for the children]:

Chucko: “That’s it. Suns go home. **** next year, get rid of Nash, Shaq and Hill this offseason. We will be a worse team next year.
Robd: “I think you’re being a bit drastic there mate…”
Chucko: “No, I’m not kidding mate, Nash is clearly half the player he was, trade him while he still has a shred of value.
Hill’s gone, injury, old, gone. Bench him. Shaq. What do I say, this *** sack of **** cost us dearly. Full credit to the Spurs for exploiting him and his lack of foul shot prowess (he had 20 attempts this game, all hack-a-Shaq). And what makes you think next year he’s going to improve his foul shooting??? Lose some weight and **** off back to Florida you ***** ** ****. Time to cut the fat and rebuild.”

The “Frustrated Suns Fan” just became a whole lot more frustrated today.

“POP!” You hear that sound? That is the sound of the Detroit Pistons pulling their finger out of their ass and finally playing like the team that won 59 games throughout the regular season. Mr. Big Shot finally had a decent game after playing like ass for most of this series, and I’m telling you, someone must have got in Chauncey’s ear throughout the week because after this game I heard him say something without a hint of nonchalant or arrogance, something rare over the past few years. Hell, it sounded almost like… desperation: “We knew Game 6 was going to be an elimination game either way it went. We wanted to be on the upper hand of that.” What?! Is this the same guy who said game 3 “wasn’t a must win” game? That’s quite a double-take there. Which got me thinking. Has this Sixers challenge been a blessing in disguise for the Pistons? For the past couple of years Detroit has fallen victim to their casual arrogance late in series against teams who are capable of beating them. By that time it’s too late. This year, they were struggling from game 1. It has taken a mighty effort of soul searching and refocus for this Pistons squad, and luckily for them this Sixers team isn’t good enough to take advantage. Maybe this will prevent a playoff meltdown occuring further down the track? I’d like to think so, but as I’ve said to hundreds of people on numerous occasions, these are the Pistons and this is the playoffs: don’t even try to predict what’s going to happen.

Farewell Dallas. For the third straight playoffs you have failed miserably. Tizzle said on the podcast that things might get ugly in the Dallas camp with an early exit. Will be interesting to see what goes down. But is it just me, or has Dirk already missed his window of oppurtunity? I can’t think of too many superstar players in this league who’ve played on a legitimate title-contending team for three straight years and actually been to the Finals, yet have nothing to show for it. Nash comes to mind, but he has crumbled at the hands of the Spurs seemingly every year whereas Dirk actually triumphed over them (hugely underrated performance, game 7, in San Antonio, one of those “What?! Really?” playoff moments of the last 10 years). There are too many up-and-coming stars in this league right now, certified Hall of Famers, who will be fighting for rings over the next decade: Lebron, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Deron Williams, Amare, Wade will be back, Melo ain’t going away, there’s still Yao, and Kobe ain’t exactly old. Dirk’s best chance was when he got over that Spurs hump and had a 2-0 lead in the Finals. His second best chance was when he was playing in one of the most successful team’s in NBA history (based on wins, I believe 7th best ever) last season. Perhaps next season, with a year-full of Kidd and a few cosmetic changes the Mavs will be back. But it won’t be their best chance at a title – it will be their third best, at most.

Day 11’s Playoff MVP Votes
3 votes - Tony Parker. Tough to go past CP3 today but TP gets the three votes for another massive game (31 points, 8 assists) and putting the dagger in the Suns with a couple of key late jumpers.
2 votes – Chris Paul. Triple-double in the series-clinching game. All you need to know about this guy and how badly he wants to win.
1 vote – Tim Duncan. Was gonna give this to Sheed for his 19 points, 6 blocks, 6 rebounds effort but Timmy was just too big, and the Suns are not the 76′ers. Honorable mentions also going to T-Mac for manging to pull off a great game without having to score in the 4th quarter (how perfect for him), and Chauncey for an effort more closley resembling his moniker Mr. Big Shot, as opposed to the Mr. Big Shit he’s been of late.

Playoff MVP Leaderboard
Chris Paul - 8 votes
Tony Parker - 7 votes
Lebron James – 6 votes
Kobe Bryant – 6 votes
Dwight Howard – 5 votes