Suns knew another home game was coming; it will be Game 1
There are few guarantees in sports, but the Suns had one locked down going into Game 6 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday night.
They knew for sure they would play at least one more game at home this postseason.
The million-dollar question, of course: Would that next game be Game 1 of the NBA Finals, or Game 7 against the stubborn LA Clippers?
Given a second chance, the Suns on Wednesday night cashed it in and made it to the NBA Finals for just the third time in franchise history. There’s nothing sweeter for a fan base – a state – that’s had so few great moments to cherish.
Playing a Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Phoenix Suns Arena will go a long way toward boosting everyone’s spirits. Even better, the Suns have home-court advantage for the series against either the Bucks or Hawks.
It’s a curious thing, but finding that home-court advantage has been elusive for the Suns. They lost Game 5 at home with a chance to close out the Clippers. Earlier in these playoffs they lost Game 2 at home to the Lakers, as well as Game 3 in LA, before taking command of the series from there.
The Suns had the NBA’s best road record this season, 24-12, so clearly playing away from their home floor doesn’t faze them. What probably was gnawing at their minds Wednesday night was a possible Game 7 against a feisty opponent that has shrugged off elimination games all postseason. And those two words, “game” and “seven,” carry their own baggage – good and bad.
Two teams come at every Game 7 from different perspectives.
One team has proven it has the poise to handle an elimination game. The other team has shown it struggled to close out the series.
Think back to the most significant Game 7 in Phoenix sports history – the 2001 World Series.
The Diamondbacks won the first two games at home, then went to Yankee Stadium and lost three in a row to the three-time defending champs.
However, the Yankees, with Andy Pettitte on the mound, could not close out the Diamondbacks in Game 6 back in Phoenix. Then came Game 7, which the Yankees led going into the bottom of the ninth. The Diamondbacks had stared into this abyss for two nights and knew they could find a way, “by hook or by crook,” as Mark Grace likes to say.
And they did. But baseball and hockey playoff series are not the same as basketball. You can’t find in the NBA playoffs a starting pitcher who can change the momentum of a series, or a goalie who can single-handedly carry his team.
Basketball has lots of superstars who rise to new heights in the playoffs, but it takes the whole group on the floor to bring home the prize. And everyone on the floor feels the same level of pressure.
“It’s surreal,’’ Cedric Maxwell, the former Celtics star, told the Boston Globe in 2010 about his emotions in a Game 7 in the 1984 finals that the Celtics won. “The thing about the seventh game, there is no wiggle room. Everything multiples tenfold.’’
In that same story, Hall of Famer John Havlicek talked about what he believes players feel going into Game 7.
“They’ll have a full day of restlessness,’’ said Havlicek, who played on eight championship teams in Boston. “You’re going on adrenaline because you can’t wait to get started.’’
In a more recent example of how Game 7 nerves can impact the best of the best, Steph Curry of the Warriors opened up about how he let his adrenaline get the better of him in the 2016 Finals against Cleveland.
With 53 seconds left in Game 7, Kyrie Irving made a go-ahead 3-pointer over Curry to give Cleveland a 92–89 lead. Curry brought the ball upcourt and was forced by Kevin Love into a contested 3 that missed, and the Cavs won the title.
Three years later, Curry told Jackie MacMullan of ESPN that the stress of the moment elevated his usual level of tension and might have affected his judgment on the play.
“It’s an uneasy feeling,” Curry said. “And it happens fast. It’s not a steady progression. I experience it when I’m in the locker room, preparing to get locked in for a big game. Because it matters so much. It’s cliché, but if you aren’t nervous, it doesn’t matter enough to you.”
None of this matters now that the Suns overcame their own nerves in Los Angeles and got the job done. At least until a possible Game 7 in the NBA Finals.