Mirage in the Desert

I have heard ignorant sports writers, even as recently as March of this year, continue to support Woody's Paige's sentiments that the Phoenix Suns were actually a better team in 2007 than the World Champion San Antonio Spurs. Even more ridiculous is blaming the suspensions of Amare "Rec Spec" Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for the Suns eventual loss in the series. At the time, many sports media figures labeled the "letter of the law" suspensions unfair, and wanted a rule change. No one seemed to focus on the fact that the Spurs bench stayed calm, collected, and sedentary while Stoudewhiner and Diaw ran over to the fray caused by Robert Horry and Steve Nash with clenched fists. If you asked the Suns teams of the 1990's why they didn't have a ring they would say to words: Michael Jordan. If we want to look at the facts, the teams of this decade should save time and answer that question with two other words: Bruce Bowen.

The 2006-2007 Phoenix Suns were a tremendous team that rode multiple 13+ game winning streaks to a 61-21 record, but as we all know, defense wins championships. More Specifically, Bruce Bowen wins Championships. There are several reasons why the Suns COULD NOT beat the Spurs in 2007. Many thought Gregg Popovich was playing chess while Mike D'Antoni was playing checkers. In reality, Pop was playing chess, Stratego, Battleship, and whipping three peoples' asses at Monopoly while D'Antoni was playing checkers. Besides the obvious fact that we had Tim Duncan and they didn't, we knew how to neutralize the Suns without appearing to do so. Their x-factor was always Shawn Marion, but the Spurs never seemed to let him have an impact, and Bowen could frustrate Nash at the right times.

The Spurs and Suns traded the first four games of the series, but Game 4 was when Robert Horry took a stand. What people fail to remember about the series is the storyline in Game 5. Without Stoudewhiner and Diaw, Phoenix ran San Antonio off the court in Phoenix, and went into halftime with a 15 to 17 point lead and a tied series. If Phoenix had been the better team, as Mr. Paige and others continue to assert, then they would have won that game and taken a 3-2 lead.

Championship teams are always capable of two things: 1) they can build a lead, sustain it, and closeout at home, and 2) they can make a comeback and win on the road. After a signature Pop speach at halftime, the Spurs began to tune out the hostile crowd and chip away. At the heart of this comeback was Bruce Bowen. Nash was out of his element, and the Suns offense ground to a halt. Though they were slowed, Phoenix managed to stay in the game until the score was tied at 81 with 43 seconds left when Bowen caught the ball in front of their bench (video available on my show page at http://blogtalkradio.com/init2winit). Nash closed out on Bowen as he released the 3 and the crowd went silent. Would a championship team let this happen?

Even down 3-2, the better team will win a seven game series. The Phoenix Suns did not. With Tim Duncan carrying the offense, Bowen put on a defensive clinic that virtually removed Nash from the game. Had the Suns been the better team, they would have forced a Game 7 and won it even after Bowen won Game 5. The better team does not allow 102.9 ppg. The better team does not make excuses. The better team leads the league by holding opponents to 90.1 ppg because the better team has an undrafted player who works on defensive drills while his opponents are watching hockey. The better team - has Bruce Bowen.