Suns have 2 chances to win 1 game, reach Finals
Everybody knows exactly what this is; there’s no such thing as hype here. The Suns have two chances to win one game.
Succeed and go to the NBA Finals for the first time in nearly 30 years. All those orange towels and purple foam fingers and black “Rally the Valley” T-shirts will become treasured heirlooms, the kinds of things that will prompt kids who aren’t yet born to one day ask grandma and grandpa about Phoenix Fandemonium
and how a basketball team helped us all recover from a horrific pandemic.
Fail and get lumped in as one of the greatest postseason collapses of all time. All those orange towels and purple foam fingers and black “Rally the Valley” T-shirts go right in the trash, never to be mentioned again after fans and analysts start bickering and assigning blame, saying James Jones should have signed a goon to protect his guys from bullies like Clippers guard Patrick Beverly or that Monty Williams got outcoached or that Chris Paul and Devin Booker should have done more to get the ball to Deandre Ayton.
You’d forgive the Suns if they got a little uptight heading into Wednesday’s Game 6 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, except they shouldn’t.
Futility since 2010
The Suns have two chances to win one game. They earned that cushion with a blistering regular season, one of the best in franchise history.
No one predicted it, not even the most optimistic opinionators or positive prognosticators dared to say the Suns would be in this position after 11 years of wandering the desert of NBA futility.
No playoffs since 2010.
A dump of disastrous draft picks since 2010.
A phalanx of failed free agent signings since 2010.
A cluster of incompetent coaches since 2010.
A general malaise of general managers since 2010.
Five seasons of 25 wins or fewer since 2010.
So no matter whether the Suns make the finals or come up one game short, this season has been exciting beyond all reasonable expectations.
The Suns shouldn’t think that way, but they should play that way.
Loose. Relaxed. Even a little cocky, like a kid who finally has a chance to show out after years of working on his game in the driveway.
They should pass the ball around with the energy of a pinball machine. Paul to Crowder to Bridges to Ayton to Booker for 3! Shazam! (As our guy Al “The Real” McCoy would say).
They should defend like they know they can take the Clippers’ cookies whenever they get hungry.
Like there’s no reason to worry if Paul George and Reggie Jackson can make highlight reel, off-the-dribble, contested 3-pointers in the first three quarters — because in the final 12 minutes, Jae Crowder, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are going to be in their mix like flies in cake batter.
And they should attack the soft middle of the Clippers defense like Deandre Ayton is a starving monster who will eat them in the locker room if they don’t feed him during the game.
Ayton, for his part, needs to take his own food and eat with his hands. The Suns are 5-0 this postseason when he grabs 14 rebounds or more.
Old obstacles and new
It won’t be easy.
Devin Booker is playing through a broken nose. Chris Paul has had to deal with a torn-up shoulder and COVID-19. Cam Payne has been on the floor more than that “Valley” logo at half court. Jae Crowder and Dario Saric can’t seem to find their shots. And Clippers coach Ty Lue keeps switching things up.
Don’t forget there are new obstacles: pressure and expectations.
The Suns went up 3-1 in a best-of-seven series with the win in Game 4.
Playoff teams have been up 3-1 more than 250 times throughout NBA history — only 13 lucky squads have ever comeback from such a deficit.
This group of Clippers came back against the Jazz after trailing 2-0 in the conference semifinals.
Suns guard Chris Paul has been on the losing end of a 3-1 comeback, dropping a series to the Rockets in 2015.
And Phoenix knows the same pain, having lost a 3-1 lead in 1970 (Lakers) and 1995 (Rockets).
This group of Suns knows what it takes to make sure they aren’t part of that frustrating history.
They can’t take any moment for granted.
Not the early moments …
“They came out and punched us in the face to start the game,” Devin Booker said after the Suns' loss in Game 5. “... They’re not gonna go away easily. We have to be locked in from beginning to end.”
… and not the late moments.
“We’ve got to close quarters better,” Chris Paul said. “That’s been a problem for us all series long, closing quarters, those last 2 and a half or 3 minutes of quarters.”
See?
Everybody knows exactly what this is; there’s no such thing as hype here. The Suns have two chances to win one game.
They’ve earned that cushion with a season that’s been exciting beyond all reasonable expectations.
They shouldn’t think like it’s enough to come this far, but they should play like it.
Loose, relaxed and even a little cocky from beginning to end, like guys who finally have a chance to show out after years of working on their stuff when no one was looking.
Succeed and go to the NBA Finals.