God knows that there's nothing that I hate more than seeing my Suns lose to the Lakers, but I gotta say...these Suns had one hell of a run. From being labeled as borderline playoff squad and possible first round Laker fodder, to unlikely Western Conference finalist pushing said Laker team to 6 games, this Suns team overachieved mightily behind team chemistry and the type of collective selflessness that you rarely see from professional athletes these days.
Perhaps one of the most memorable moments of this year's playoffs came after Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, when TNT's Craig Sager was interviewing not Steve Nash, not Kobe Bryant, not Amare Stoudemire or Pau Gasol, but a quintet of Suns bench players: Channing Frye, Jared Dudley, Leandro Barbosa, Lou Amundson and Goran Dragic. I followed this team closely. Read every article, every report, watched every seemingly pointless locker room video, but I never imagined that Frye would develop into the sharpshooter that he became, that Goran would have so much guts, that Dudley would hold everything together like rubber cement.
But this wasn't just about a ragtag second unit becoming the best set of subs in the league. It was also about would-be stars taking a step back for the greater good of the team. Amare making a conscious effort to shed the "selfish" label that had followed him over the course of his career and embracing the role of team captain. As important as his bullish rolls to the rim were within the confines of the arena, his efforts to help the squad bond - taking the entire team out to dinners or movie excursions - were equally important outside of it. J-Rich scaling back his high-wire 360-windmill-between-the-legs act from Golden State and being content to fill the seams and pick his spots on a team full of effective, if mostly modest scorers. Both still had their moments; Richardson exploding for 42 in Portland and Amare likewise against Los Angeles, but the lasting images of these two sky-walkers were not when they were throwing down their trademark slams, but when they were jumping up and down on the sidelines, reduced to being crunch time cheerleaders as their replacements ably filled their minutes. As defining snapshots went, there were too many to count. Amare baptizing Tolliver in the Bay, Robin Lopez turning into a lunatic when Goran put Derek Fisher in the spin cycle, Barbosa's goofy Avatar video, RoLo posterizing his brother, everybody singing Lionel Ritchie's "All Night Long" on the team bus...the list could go on and on.
The word "synergy" was thrown around a lot this season, and indeed, this group was a team in the truest sense of the word. While the NBA will get to showcase the Lakers/Celtics series that everyone wants to see, it's a bit of a shame that this tightly knit Suns group wasn't quite good enough to be there in the end. I don't know if I can live in a world where Sasha Vujacic has two championship rings while Steve Nash has yet to win one.
Steve Nash.
As Charles Barkley noted, Nash represents everything that is good about the game. The man is classy, affable, incredibly intelligent, funny and - I'll say it - the greatest point guard of his generation. A lot of people have gone as far as to say that they feel sorry for Steve Nash, but why? He's got 2 MVP trophies, a huge multi-million dollar contract, a gorgeous wife, adorable twin daughters, heck, even a spot in the Hall of Fame waiting for him when he retires. I'll always root for the guy because it's almost impossible not to, but feel sorry for him? Nah. I don't. I really don't. He'll be fine.
In the end, the Suns faithful will, as they should, remember this team fondly. They were pegged to be mediocre, above average at best, but they instead attained excellence by embracing a uniform goal and rooting for one another. In all my years as a fan, this is the team that I wanted most to make the Finals, not because they were up against the Lakers, not because they vanquished the Spurs, not because it may have been Nash and Hill's last chance at a ring, but because of all the teams that I've followed in all my years watching the sport, this is the group of guys that deserved it the most. Well done.
With that, I'm done watching the NBA until November. Any other year I'd still be tuning in, but I don't think I can sit and watch the Lakers go for their 16th title and the Celtics their 18th when the Suns came so close to playing for their first. If Amare leaves and we're looking at a different Suns team next year, so be it. It was one heck of a ride.
