Big wins rare for Phoenix fans
The empty rafters in the newly renovated Suns arena in downtown Phoenix speak to the heartbreak and frustrations the franchise and its fans have endured over the past 53 years.
The only championship banners that hang there represent the Rattlers (six of them), the Mercury (three) and the United States of America (one).
This Suns team is on the cusp of changing that. It went into Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night one victory from beating the Clippers and advancing to the NBA Finals for just the third time in franchise history.
Phoenix fell short Monday and now must wait for Game 6 back in L.A.
We all know how the other two turned out: a loss to the Celtics in 1976 and to the Bulls in 1993.
The lack of championship banners is a burden devout Valley sports fans bear, and at which they swear.
The Suns have played in the NBA Finals twice in their 52 previous seasons. The Cardinals, who have been in the Valley 33 years, have played in one Super Bowl. The Diamondbacks played in, and won, one World Series in 23 seasons. The Coyotes haven’t advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 24 years in Arizona.
Collectively, that’s four championship-round appearances and one trophy in 132 seasons from that group.
Title Town, we are not, when it comes to the big four sports leagues.
But this feels different, doesn’t it? This run the Suns are on?
They are gritty, resilient, relatively healthy, and as Jerry Colangelo, the Suns patriarch, mentioned the other day, there is no huge Jordan-esque nemesis awaiting them in Milwaukee or Atlanta.
The Suns have blown through the Western Conference, beating the Lakers in six, the Nuggets in four, and had the Clippers on the brink of elimination in five.
They have enjoyed some good fortune along the way: Anthony Davis’s injury in the first round against the Lakers. The absences of Jamal Murray against the Nuggets and Kawhi Leonard against the Clippers.
You know who doesn’t care that opponents were missing some of their best players? Suns fans. Nor should they.
As Chris Paul said the other day, “s--t happens,” and it’s happened this postseason to the Suns, too.
If you’re a Suns fans, you panicked when Paul suffered a shoulder injury in the first game against the Lakers and fretted when he tested positive for COVID-19 and missed the first two games against the Clippers.
Suns fans, and their team, have also been through some challenges this post-season. Suns fans have been through more post-season heartbreaks than they care to count.
They remember championship hopes dashed by misfortune, last-second shots and dastardly acts.
Suns fans watched their team not just miss the post-season the previous 10 years, but become unwatchable for many seasons. That was hard.
But as Monty Williams has said 1,232 times since becoming Suns coach two years ago, everything the Suns want is on the other side of hard.
That includes the franchise’s first championship banner.